---

Activities > Fire Effects, Fire History, and Fire Fuels Modeling

---

[ || Soil Moisture || Geology & Soil Texture || Biological Soil Crusts || Fire || Vegetation Dynamics || Soil Compaction || Wind Erosion || Climate || Repeat Photography || Land Use History || Spatial Modeling || ]

---

Land managers throughout the Mojave Desert are searching for information on historic and current fire regimes to develop science-based and effective fire management plans. Although fire is generally thought to be infrequent in this region and the recent increase observed in fires since the 1980s is considered unprecedented, a comprehensive review of Mojave Desert fire regimes still remains to be done. This is a high priority research need for both managers and scientists who are attempting to evaluate the recoverability potential of various ecosystem components from different types of disturbance in the Mojave Desert.

Lightning strikes are a prime cause of fire in the Mojave Desert. Photograph by USGS staff.

Fuel and fire-hazards maps do not currently exist for much of the arid and semi-arid desert grasslands, shrublands, and woodlands of North America. Fire managers require these maps to anticipate where and when fires may occur, so they can implement pre-suppression management actions (for example, fuels management and law enforcement) and develop contingency plans for suppressing fires that do occur. This is particularly important in wilderness areas where most large fires occur and where fire management options are more limited.

Fire is becoming more common in the Mojave Desert. Photograph by USGS staff.

---

Methodology

Current fire-regime descriptions have been developed for the Mojave Desert using information recorded in federal agency fire reports. By studying the relationship between the various fire regimes and key landscape variables, scientists and managers are able to infer historical fire regimes, identify variations in the major factors that influence regional fire behavior, and predict future fire regimes given various scenarios for changing climate and land use. Maps of vegetation, topography, lightning occurrence, and land use history are used to develop fire fuels and fire hazard maps.

---

[ || Overview || Activities || Products || Photo Gallery || Glossary || Links || Feedback || Sitemap || ]