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Fire Regime - Report

Fire regimes of Rocky Mountain lodgepole pine communities

Written
March, 2026
Fire Regime Type
Report

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory. 2026. Fire regimes of Rocky Mountain lodgepole pine 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/rocky-mountain-lodgepole-pine

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

A map showing the distribution of Rocky Mountain lodgepole pine communities in the interior western U.S.
Photo Credit
Map based on the LANDFIRE (2020) BpS data layer [1].

Figure 1—Land cover distribution of Rocky Mountain lodgepole pine Biophysical Settings (BpS).

2020 LANDFIRE Biophysical Settings — Historical Fire Regime Characteristics
Biophysical SettingMean Fire Interval (years)Fire Severity Percent (%)
CodeFire Regime GroupLowMixedReplacementAllLowMixedReplacement
Series 10550 - Rocky Mountain Subalpine Dry-Mesic Spruce-Fir Forest and Woodland
10550_29IV-B11311300100
10550_21_22V-A33333300100
10550_20III-A38313610002674
Series 11670 - Rocky Mountain Poor-Site Lodgepole Pine Forest
11670_21V-A55132420403763
11670_10_19V-A250033529501288
Series 10500 - Rocky Mountain Lodgepole Pine Forest
10500_16_23_28IV-B64015212319081
10500_22IV-B16916900100
10500_18IV-B64315112219081
Summary
Minimum6403831131000063
Maximum64325003353331937100
Mean64211452141825986
Median6425511611460085
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 April 28, 2026