I’ve been told that America was so forested when the first settlers came that they resorted to forest fires to gain land for crops.....
Injuns did the same thing in New England, and apparently other places as well (see below). Not just for crops, but to increase the browse for deer—lots of yummy buds and berry bushes grow in disturbed areas. No big surprise, since "slash-and-burn agriculture" is what Indians in Central America practice to this day.