Fire regimes of the United States

Under construction. More vegetation communities will be added as syntheses are completed.
Syntheses of fire regime information on biophysical vegetation communities throughout the United States. Select the fire regime synthesis name for information on historical fire regimes based on a systematic literature search. Numbers in the table are derived from LANDFIRE succession modeling of Biophysical Settings (BpSs), which is based on literature, local data, and/or expert estimates. Select the "Fire interval" link to see data for all BpSs covered in the synthesis.

Region
FEIS syntheses
Results from LANDFIRE models
Fire regime syntheses Relevant species reviews Fire interval¹ (years)
Fire severity² (% of fires)
Number of BpS groups in each
fire regime group
Replacement Mixed Low
I
II
III
IV
V
NA³
Alaska Alaskan tundra
+
175-1,023
98-100
0-2
0
0
0
0
2
7
15
Alaska Black spruce
+
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Alaska Sitka spruce
+
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Hawaii Hawai'i
+
12-4,975
0-50
50-100
0-100
3
0
4
0
7
8
¹Average historical fire-return interval derived from LANDFIRE succession modeling (labeled "MFRI" in LANDFIRE).
²Percentage 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%.
³NA (not applicable) refers to BpS models that did not include fire in simulations.

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