Fire scars, soil charcoal, historical accounts and fire control records indicate that the fire regime in the western portion of Great Smoky Mountains National Park has changed dramatically during the last 200 yr. The mean interval between fires, based on fire scars from pine forets for the period 1856 to 1940 was 12.7 yr. Most of these fires were probably set by settlers, and man-set fires may have been an important influence since Indians migrated into the Little Tennessee River Valley.