Fire regimes of western alpine communities
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory. 2026. Fire regimes of western alpine 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/western-alpine
A complete Fire Regime Synthesis for western alpine communities has not yet been published in the Fire Effects Information System. However, LANDFIRE succession modeling of western alpine 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 western alpine Biophysical Settings (BpS).
| Biophysical Setting | Mean Fire Interval (years) | Fire Severity Percent (%) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Code | Fire Regime Group | Low | Mixed | Replacement | All | Low | Mixed | Replacement |
| Series 11360 - Mediterranean California Alpine Dry Tundra | ||||||||
| 11360_6 | V-A | 209 | 209 | 0 | 0 | 100 | ||
| Series 11430 - Rocky Mountain Alpine Fell-Field | ||||||||
| 11430_9_19_21_28 | V-B | 525 | 525 | 0 | 0 | 100 | ||
| Series 11440 - Rocky Mountain Alpine Turf | ||||||||
| 11440_12_16_19_28 | V-A | 207 | 207 | 0 | 0 | 100 | ||
| 11440_21_22 | V-B | 515 | 515 | 0 | 0 | 100 | ||
| Series 10700 - Rocky Mountain Alpine Dwarf-Shrubland | ||||||||
| 10700_10_19_28 | V-A | 228 | 228 | 0 | 0 | 100 | ||
| 10700_21 | V-B | 566 | 566 | 0 | 0 | 100 | ||
| 10700_16 | V-A | 227 | 227 | 0 | 0 | 100 | ||
| Series 10710 - Sierra Nevada Alpine Dwarf-Shrubland | ||||||||
| 10710_6 | V-A | 228 | 228 | 0 | 0 | 100 | ||
| Series 10670 - Mediterranean California Alpine Fell-Field | ||||||||
| 10670_6 | V-B | 526 | 526 | 0 | 0 | 100 | ||
| Series 10680 - North Pacific Dry and Mesic Alpine Dwarf-Shrubland or Fell-Field or Meadow | ||||||||
| 10680_1_7 | ||||||||
| Series 11710 - North Pacific Alpine and Subalpine Dry Grassland | ||||||||
| 11710_7 | V-A | 203 | 203 | 0 | 0 | 100 | ||
| 11710_1 | V-B | 504 | 504 | 0 | 0 | 100 | ||
| Summary | ||||||||
| Minimum | 203 | 203 | 0 | 0 | 100 | |||
| Maximum | 566 | 566 | 0 | 0 | 100 | |||
| Mean | 358 | 358 | 0 | 0 | 100 | |||
| Median | 228 | 228 | 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]