OHRC to host presentation about ‘Fire in the Ozarks’ Jan. 21

WEST PLAINS, Mo. – Officials with the Ozarks Heritage Research Center (OHRC) at Missouri State University-West Plains (MSU-WP) will host a presentation about “Fire in the Ozarks” at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 21, at the OHRC. 

           The center is inside MSU-WP’s Garnett Library, 304 W. Trish Knight St., in West Plains. 

           The presentation will be given by Denise Henderson Vaughn. Vaughn is an independent science journalist who specializes in Ozark natural resources, particularly forests and waterways.

Vaughn reported on the environment for the West Plains Daily Quill for 20 years and has a master’s degree in journalism and conservation biology from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Her most recent publication (August 2024) is “Ozarks Karst Dramas,” a half-hour documentary about mishaps involving our area’s sinkholes and groundwater. 

  

            The multimedia presentation on Jan. 21 will cover historical fires on the Ozark landscape, organizers said. It is based on Vaughn’s ArcGIS StoryMap with the same title, published in April 2024, which was commissioned by the Oak Woodlands & Forests Fire Consortium.

            Featuring photos, slideshows, maps and short videos, “Fire in the Ozarks” shows how dendrochronologists – researchers who study the history revealed by tree rings and the fire scars embedded in them – have discovered a remarkable pattern of recurrent widespread fire over hundreds of years across North America, but particularly in the Ozarks.

            In “Fire in the Ozarks,” Vaughn tells how repeated fires have shaped Ozark ecosystems, influencing which plant and animal species are hindered or thrive; she describes how humans have played a big role in applying fire, and by suppressing fire, and how those actions have played out in the past and today. The storyline is focused on the Current River watershed in south-central Missouri, where Vaughn traces the role of fire from the time this area was within the realm of the Osage Nation through the impacts brought by European colonizers.

The presentation is free and open to all. Light refreshments will be served. 

For more information about the event, contact Rebekah McKinney at 417-255-7949 or RebekahMcKinney@MissouriState.edu.