Fire regimes of aspen-birch communities
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory. 2026. Fire regimes of aspen-birch communities. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online]. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available: https://research.fs.usda.gov/feis/fire-regimes/aspen-birch
A complete Fire Regime Synthesis for aspen-birch communities has not yet been published in the Fire Effects Information System. However, LANDFIRE succession modeling of aspen-birch Biophysical Settings (BpS) provides estimates of fire regime characteristics (see LANDFIRE Biophysical Settings section). Figure 1 shows where these BpSs occur.
Figure 1—Land cover distribution of aspen-birch Biophysical Settings (BpS).
| Biophysical Setting | Mean Fire Interval (years) | Fire Severity Percent (%) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Code | Fire Regime Group | Low | Mixed | Replacement | All | Low | Mixed | Replacement |
| Series 13010 - Boreal Aspen-Birch Forest | ||||||||
| 13010_40 | IV-A | 82 | 82 | 0 | 0 | 100 | ||
| Series 13653 - Boreal White Spruce-Fir-Hardwood Forest - Aspen-Birch | ||||||||
| 13653_41 | III-A | 243 | 112 | 76 | 0 | 32 | 68 | |
| Summary | ||||||||
| Minimum | 243 | 82 | 76 | 0 | 0 | 68 | ||
| Maximum | 243 | 112 | 82 | 0 | 32 | 100 | ||
| Mean | 243 | 97 | 79 | 0 | 16 | 84 | ||
| Median | 243 | 97 | 79 | 0 | 16 | 84 | ||
| Percentage 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%. | ||||||||
| LANDFIRE. 2020. Biophysical settings models and descriptions, [Online]. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service; U.S. Department of the Interior; U.S. Geological Survey; Arlington, VA: The Nature Conservancy, (Producers). Available: https://www.landfirereview.org/search.php [96496] | ||||||||
1. LANDFIRE. 2020. Biophysical settings layer, CONUS (LANDFIRE 2.2.0). In: LANDFIRE download data mosaic products, [Online]. U.S. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey; U.S. Department of Agriculture (Producer). Available: https://www.landfire.gov/version_download.php [2023, June 20]. [98050]
2. LANDFIRE. 2020. Biophysical settings models and descriptions, [Online]. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service; U.S. Department of the Interior; U.S. Geological Survey; Arlington, VA: The Nature Conservancy, (Producers). Available: http://www.landfirereview.org/search.php [2022, February 2]. [96496]