Fire regimes of saltbush desert scrub communities
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory. 2026. Fire regimes of saltbush desert scrub 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/saltbush-desert-scrub
A complete Fire Regime Synthesis for saltbush desert scrub communities has not yet been published in the Fire Effects Information System. However, LANDFIRE succession modeling of saltbush desert scrub 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 saltbush desert scrub Biophysical Settings (BpS). Numbers indicate LANDFIRE map zones.
| Biophysical Setting | Mean Fire Interval (years) | Fire Severity Percent (%) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Code | Fire Regime Group | Low | Mixed | Replacement | All | Low | Mixed | Replacement |
| Series 10880 - Sonora-Mojave Mixed Salt Desert Scrub | ||||||||
| 10880_12_13_14_25 | ||||||||
| 10880_4_5 | ||||||||
| Series 10810 - Inter-Mountain Basins Mixed Salt Desert Scrub | ||||||||
| 10810_27_33 | V-A | 237 | 237 | 0 | 0 | 100 | ||
| 10810_15_16_23_24_28 | V-B | 616 | 616 | 0 | 0 | 100 | ||
| 10810_7_8_9 | V-B | 698 | 698 | 0 | 0 | 100 | ||
| 10810_22 | V-A | 450 | 450 | 0 | 0 | 100 | ||
| 10810_18_19_21 | V-B | 1140 | 1140 | 0 | 0 | 100 | ||
| 10810_6_12_13_17 | V-B | 1978 | 1978 | 0 | 0 | 100 | ||
| Series 10660 - Inter-Mountain Basins Mat Saltbush Shrubland | ||||||||
| 10660_16_23_24 | ||||||||
| 10660_29 | V-A | 440 | 440 | 0 | 0 | 100 | ||
| 10660_22 | ||||||||
| Series 10760 - Chihuahuan Stabilized Coppice Dune and Sand Flat Scrub | ||||||||
| 10760_25 | II-C | 22 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 100 | ||
| 10760_26 | ||||||||
| Series 10750 - Chihuahuan Mixed Salt Desert Scrub | ||||||||
| 10750_25 | V-A | 805 | 706 | 376 | 0 | 47 | 53 | |
| 10750_26 | V-B | 610 | 610 | 0 | 0 | 100 | ||
| Series 11270 - Inter-Mountain Basins Semi-Desert Shrub-Steppe | ||||||||
| 11270_22 | V-A | 448 | 448 | 0 | 0 | 100 | ||
| Summary | ||||||||
| Minimum | 805 | 22 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 53 | ||
| Maximum | 805 | 1978 | 1978 | 0 | 47 | 100 | ||
| Mean | 805 | 668 | 638 | 0 | 4 | 96 | ||
| Median | 805 | 610 | 450 | 0 | 0 | 100 | ||
| 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]