Studying historic fire regimes is necessary to understand the vital role fire plays in the regeneration and maintenance of unique fire adapted ecosystems. A few natural stands of Pinus echinata (Mill.) occur on upland sites within the Ozark Hills of southern Illinois representing a rare community type to this area and one dependent on recurring fire. The objectives of this study were to identify the fire and disturbance history of La-Rue Pine Hills RNA using dendroecological methods and develop an understanding of the successional dynamics in shortleaf pine-mixed oak stands in relation to the disturbance regime. Identification of the four largest shortleaf pine-mixed oak sites were identified using maps provided by the U.S. Forest Service. Stand structure analysis data were collected from a series of .06-ha plots systematically arranged in each stand. Increment cores from all size classes of overstory trees were collected and dendroecological methods were used to create a master chronology for P. echinata and Quercus velutina (Lam.), the two most dominant species. Wedge samples from fire-scarred trees were cut and utilized in cross-dating with the tree-ring chronology to establish years of fire occurrence and intervals. Radial growth analysis was evaluated for years of specific suppression and releases correlated with years of fire occurrences. Preliminary data suggests that periodic fires occurred in the Pine Hills before the implementation of fire exclusion practices early last century. Shortleaf pine recruitment appears negatively correlated to fire suppression and positively correlated with the disturbance regime. In general, the importance of shortleaf pine has decreased due to the lack of disturbances. The findings of this study suggest that fire is essential for maintaining these Pine Hills habitats and a combination of mechanical thinning followed by prescribed fire should be used as the primary tools of restoration ecology.