Fire Effects Information System (FEIS)
 FEIS Home Page

Fire regimes of southern Rocky Mountain mixed-conifer communities

Citation:
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory. 2012. Information from LANDFIRE on fire regimes of southern Rocky Mountain mixed-conifer communities. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online]. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available: www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/fire_regimes/Southern_RM_mixed_conifer/all.html [].

A complete Fire Regime Synthesis for southern Rocky Mountain mixed-conifer communities has not yet been published in the Fire Effects Information System. However, information is available from LANDFIRE succession modeling of Biophysical Settings (BpS). Table 1 summarizes LANDFIRE data on the BpSs in southern Rocky Mountain mixed-conifer communities. Figure 1 shows where they occur. Appendix A lists the BpSs and the results of LANDFIRE succession modeling for each BpS in southern Rocky Mountain mixed-conifer communities.

Table 1. Modeled fire intervals and severities in southern Rocky Mountain mixed-conifer communities [3]
Fire interval¹
Fire severity² (% of fires)
Number of Biophysical Settings (BpSs) in each fire regime group
  Replacement Mixed Low I II III IV V NA³
10-55 years 3-27 14-37 36-80 17 0 2 0 0 0
¹Average historical fire-return interval derived from LANDFIRE succession modeling (labeled "MFRI" in LANDFIRE).
²Percentage of fires in 3 fire severity classes, derived from LANDFIRE succession modeling. Replacement-severity fires cause >75% kill or top-kill of the upper canopy layer; mixed-severity fires cause 26%-75%; low-severity fires cause <26% [1,2].
³NA (not applicable) refers to BpS models that did not include fire in simulations.

Figure 1. Land cover distribution of southern Rocky Mountain mixed-conifer communities based on the LANDFIRE Biophysical Settings (BpS) data layer [3]. Numbers indicate LANDFIRE map zones. LANDFIRE did not map every BpS in this group. Click on the map for a larger image and zoom in to see details.

References:

1. Barrett, S.; Havlina, D.; Jones, J.; Hann, W.; Frame, C.; Hamilton, D.; Schon, K.; Demeo, T.; Hutter, L.; Menakis, J. 2010. Interagency fire regime condition class guidebook (FRCC), [Online], (Version 3.0). In: Interagency fire regime condition class website. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service; U.S. Department of the Interior; The Nature Conservancy (Producers). Available: https://www.frames.gov/files/7313/8388/1679/FRCC_Guidebook_2010_final.pdf [2017, March 1]. [85876].

2. LANDFIRE Rapid Assessment. 2005. Reference condition modeling manual (Version 2.1). Cooperative Agreement 04-CA-11132543-189. Boulder, CO: The Nature Conservancy; U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service; U.S. Department of the Interior. 72 p. On file at: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory, Missoula, MT. [66741]

3. LANDFIRE. 2008. CONUS refresh (LANDFIRE 1.1.0). Biophysical settings layer. In: LANDFIRE data distribution site, [Online]. In: LANDFIRE. U.S. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey (Producer). Available: https://landfire.cr.usgs.gov/viewer/ [2015, October 7]. [89416]
FEIS Home Page