I dunno what you guys are talking about.

I know from experience that brushy woods in time become mature forests, with the big trees shading out the understory. In the Ozarks, I'd guess that process takes 50 years or so.

Our hunting land in Douglas County was logged 15 years ago. Yes, it would make a helluva fire now - but it holds lots of deer. There are lots of brushy thickets there I can hardly get through.

Our neighbor there just had his place logged out. Before that it was "mature forest" with big trees and no underbrush. That's pretty, but it holds few deer or other wildlife.

The first white explorer to reach the Springfield area, a guy named Schoolcroft, described the Ozarks as mature pine forests. He said a man could ride a horse easily between the trees, and there was so little underbrush he could see a long ways ahead. Obviously, the hardwoods we have today spread from the creek bottoms after the pines were logged out.

Growing a mature forest takes time, and I sure doubt the Indians "taking care of the forests" had anything to do with it. Just how many hours a day did you figure those bucks and squaws spent pulling weeds in the woods, anyway?