Understanding the causes and consequences of wildfires in forests of the western United States requires integrated information about fire, climate changes, and human activity on multiple temporal scales. We use sedimentary charcoal accumulation rates to construct long-term variations in fire during the past 3,000 y in the American West and compare this record to independent fire-history data from historical records and fire scars. There has been a slight decline in burning over the past 3,000 y, with the lowest levels attained during the 20th century and during the Little Ice Age (LIA, ca.

Variations in fire regimes can be inferred from changes in the abundance of sedimentary charcoal found in lake and bog sediments. When analysed with pollen data, inferences can be made about past vegetation dynamics and climate as well. The analysis of high-resolution charcoal records generally