The landscape structure of forests subjected to wildfires fluctuates through time as a result of the episodic nature of these disturbances and long-term variation in the climatic conditions that influence the fire regime. These landscape dynamics influence a variety of important ecosystem processes. Before European settlement, landscape dynamics in Pacific Northwest forests were driven primarily by the patterns of wildfire, and an understanding of these dynamics can provide a unique frame of reference for evaluating current forest management policies and alternatives for the future. Tree-ring data and historical records of forest cutting were used to quantify the range of landscape conditions that existed on two large watersheds (4000 ha and 11600 ha) between the late 1400s and 1990. A rule-based simulation model was used to generate landscape patterns that would result from five alternative future forest management scenarios. Our results demonstrate that conditions on these two watersheds in 1990 are outside the range of conditions that existed during most of the reconstructed pre-settlement era. Continued use of short (50 to 100 year) timber rotation lengths would push these watersheds even farther outside of this range. The use of much longer rotation lengths (200 + years) could bring these watersheds back to within or very near this range of pre-settlement conditions.