Fire regimes of California subalpine mixed-conifer communities
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory. 2019. Fire regimes of California subalpine mixed-conifer communities: Information from the Pacific Southwest Research Station and LANDFIRE. 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/california-subalpine-mixed-conifer
A complete Fire Regime Synthesis for California subalpine mixed-conifer communities has not yet been published in the Fire Effects Information System. However, The Pacific Southwest Research Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, provides a review and synthesis of the historical range of variability in California subalpine mixed-conifer woodlands (Meyer 2016 [1]). It includes information on:
- Physical setting and geographic distribution
- Ecological setting
- Holocene history
- Cultural-socioeconomic setting
- Reference conditions
- Descriptions of natural range of variation including:
- plant community composition (geographic distribution of major hardwood species, successional changes, diversity)
- stand structure (age class; cover, density, and basal area; patch sizes; distribution of fuel loads)
- function (climate; disturbances including fire, insects, wind, and volcanism)
- Deviations from natural variation and future trends
A Sierra lodgepole pine community at 7,600 feet on the Inyo National Forest near Mammoth.
A western white pine stand at 9,300 feet in Mono County.
The literature review of fire regimes occurs in the "NRV Descriptions and Comparisons to Current Conditions" section of this publication. In addition, LANDFIRE succession modeling of California subalpine mixed-conifer Biophysical Settings (BpS) provides estimates of fire regime characteristics (see LANDFIRE Biophysical Settings section). The map in figure 1 shows where these BpSs occur and was updated in 2026 to show the most recent (2020) LANDFIRE BpS data layer.
Figure 1—Land cover distribution of California subalpine mixed-conifer Biophysical Settings (BpS).
See the Fire Regime Report on whitebark pine for information from LANDFIRE on whitebark pine communities across the West.
| Common name | Scientific name |
|---|---|
| foxtail pine | Pinus balfouriana |
| Great Basin bristlecone pine | Pinus longaeva |
| limber pine | Pinus flexilis |
| mountain hemlock | Tsuga mertensiana |
| Sierra lodgepole pine | Pinus contorta var. murrayana |
| western white pine | Pinus monticola |
| whitebark pine | Pinus albicaulis |
| white fir | Abies concolor |
| Biophysical Setting | Mean Fire Interval (years) | Fire Severity Percent (%) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Code | Fire Regime Group | Low | Mixed | Replacement | All | Low | Mixed | Replacement |
| Series 11720 - Sierran-Intermontane Desert Western White Pine-White Fir Woodland | ||||||||
| 11720_7 | I-C | 45 | 65 | 202 | 24 | 52 | 36 | 12 |
| Series 10330 - Mediterranean California Subalpine Woodland | ||||||||
| 10330_3_6_7 | V-A | 566 | 475 | 258 | 0 | 46 | 54 | |
| Series 10580 - Sierra Nevada Subalpine Lodgepole Pine Forest and Woodland | ||||||||
| 10580_7 | IV-A | 650 | 91 | 80 | 12 | 0 | 88 | |
| 10580_4 | III-A | 146 | 105 | 282 | 50 | 34 | 48 | 18 |
| 10580_12 | III-A | 466 | 51 | 159 | 36 | 8 | 69 | 23 |
| Series 10581 - Sierra Nevada Subalpine Lodgepole Pine Forest and Woodland - Wet | ||||||||
| 10581_6 | III-A | 460 | 51 | 158 | 36 | 8 | 69 | 23 |
| Series 10582 - Sierra Nevada Subalpine Lodgepole Pine Forest and Woodland - Dry | ||||||||
| 10582_6 | I-C | 59 | 56 | 244 | 26 | 43 | 46 | 11 |
| Series 10440 - Northern California Mesic Subalpine Woodland | ||||||||
| 10440_3_6_7 | V-A | 929 | 504 | 327 | 0 | 35 | 65 | |
| Summary | ||||||||
| Minimum | 45 | 51 | 91 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 11 | |
| Maximum | 650 | 929 | 504 | 327 | 52 | 69 | 88 | |
| Mean | 304 | 260 | 264 | 105 | 20 | 44 | 37 | |
| Median | 303 | 65 | 223 | 43 | 10 | 46 | 23 | |
| 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. Meyer, Marc D. 2016. Natural range of variation of subalpine forests in the bioregional assessment area, [Online]. In: Pacific Region, Ecology program documents, reports and publications, Natural range of variation of Sierra Nevada habitats. Vallejo, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region (Producer). Available: https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/r5/plants-animals/?cid=stelprdb5434436 [2016, October 5]. 60 p. [90945]
2. 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]
3. 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]