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Fire Regime - Report

Fire regimes of Madrean pine-oak-juniper communities

Written
April, 2026
Fire Regime Type
Report

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory. 2026. Fire regimes of Madrean pine–oak–juniper 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/madrean-pine-oak-juniper

A complete Fire Regime Synthesis for Madrean pine–oak–juniper communities has not yet been published in the Fire Effects Information System. However, LANDFIRE succession modeling of Madrean pine–oak–juniper Biophysical Settings (BpS) provides estimates of fire regime characteristics (see LANDFIRE Biophysical Settings section). Figure 1 shows where these BpSs occur.

Map of the southwestern United States showing the distribution of Madrean pine-oak-juniper communities, mostly in central and southern Arizona and southern New Mexico and a scattering of locations in far western Texas.
Photo Credit
Map based on the LANDFIRE (2020) BpS data layer [1].

Figure 1—Land cover distribution of Madrean pine–oak–juniper Biophysical Settings (BpS). Numbers indicate LANDFIRE map zones.

2020 LANDFIRE Biophysical Settings — Historical Fire Regime Characteristics
Biophysical SettingMean Fire Interval (years)Fire Severity Percent (%)
CodeFire Regime GroupLowMixedReplacementAllLowMixedReplacement
Series 10250 - Madrean Pinyon-Juniper Woodland
10250_14_15_24_25_26III-A10420913646442234
Series 11010 - Madrean Oriental Chaparral
11010_25I-C28411760040
11010_26I-C28411660040
Series 10240 - Madrean Lower Montane Pine-Oak Forest and Woodland
10240_25_27I-B1130607652312
10240_14_15_24I-C3319112523691219
10240_26I-A1024165502030
Series 11160 - Madrean Juniper Savanna
11160_15_25III-A10620813646442234
11160_24III-A10121413946462133
11160_26I-B46272410223741
Series 10230 - Madrean Encinal
10230_14_15_24_25I-C3319112523691318
Summary
Minimum102416522012
Maximum10621413946693741
Mean501378424531730
Median331919320552134
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]

Last updated May 7, 2026