Data Products ›› Fire Regimes

Historical fire regimes, intervals, and vegetation conditions are mapped using the Vegetation Dynamics Development Tool (VDDT). These data support fire and landscape management planning goals in the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy, the Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy, and the Healthy Forests Restoration Act.

Products » Fire Regime Data Product Alerts
A problem with LF 2008 ("Refresh" - LF_1.1.0) Vegetation Departure (vdep) for zone 79 was recently identified. Values were misclassified. Users are advised to delete any local copies of these layers downloaded prior to July 23, 2012 and download the current version. We regret any inconvenience this may cause. LF 2001 ("Refresh" - LF_1.0.5) / LF 2008 ("Refresh"- LF_1.1.0) Succession Classes (sclass), Vegetation Condition Class (vcc), and Vegetation Departure (vdep) within the Southeast GeoArea were updated 7/17/12. These Southeast (SE) GeoArea (zones 37, 46, 48, 54, 55, 56, 98, and 99) data were some of the initial layers delivered for LF Refresh. Remaining GeoAreas were completed over the course of the next eighteen months and methods used for completing these data were refined, including improved agricultural, urban, and riparian/wetland mapping. LANDFIRE implemented these refinements in the SE GeoArea to maintain consistencies in processing methods. Affected zones: 32, 36, 37, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 53, 54, 56, 57, 58, 59, 98, 99 Users are advised to delete local copies of these layers for LF 2001 (LF_1.0.5)/LF 2008 (LF_1.1.0) downloaded prior to July 17, 2012 and download the updated versions. We regret any inconvenience this may cause. LANDFIRE 2001 (LF_1.0.5)/LANDFIRE 2008 (1.1.0) fire regime layers for the zones 37, 46, 48, 54, 55, 56, 98, and 99 are updated 5/11/12. These layers were delivered incrementally over the course of a year beginning in April 2010 as the SE GeoArea (zones 37, 46, 48, 54, 55, 56, 98, and 99). Remaining GeoAreas were completed over the course of the next eighteen months and methods used for completing these data were refined, including improved agricultural, urban, and riparian/wetland mapping. To maintain consistencies in processing methods LANDFIRE has now implemented these refinements in the SE GeoArea. Updated layers are Fire Regime Groups (FRG), Mean Fire Return Interval (MFRI), Percent Low-severity Fire (PLS), Percent Mixed-severity Fire (PMS), and Percent Replacement-severity Fire (PRS). Users are advised to delete local copies of these layers for the SE GeoArea LANDFIRE 2001 (LF_1.0.5)/LANDFIRE 2008 (1.1.0) downloaded prior to May 11, 2012 and download the updated versions. We regret any inconvenience this may cause. A problem was recently identified with the Vegetation Departure (VDEP) layer LF_1.0.5 and LF_1.1.0 for zones 06, 12, 13, 14, 16, 22, 23, 28, 31, 38, and 41. Regions of VDEP were not previously calculated in these zones. This issue is resolved and customers are advised to delete any local copies of VDEP for these zones prior to 12-20-11 and download the updated version. We regret any inconvenience this may have caused. A problem was recently identified with the Vegetation Departure (VDEP) layer for Mapping Zone 99. Processing of this layer for Zone 99 was incomplete, leaving many of the pixels unassigned. Users are advised to delete any local copies of this layer for Zone 99 and download the updated version as of November 17, 2008. We regret any inconvenience this may have caused. A problem was recently identified with the Vegetation Condition Class (VCC) layer for mapping zone 99. VCC processing for zone 99 was incomplete leaving many of the pixels unassigned. Users are advised to delete any local copies of this layer for zone 99 and download the updated version as of October 20, 2008. We regret any inconvenience this may have caused. A problem was recently identified with the Succession Class layer from Mapping Zone 13. Small residual errors from data processing resulted in a slight difference in the Biophysical Setting layer used to create the Succession Class layer as well as the version of the Biophysical Setting layer released for download. These differences could result in errors in calculating local measurements of Fire Regime Condition Class with the FRCC Mapping Tool. Customers are advised to delete any local copies of this Succession Class layer downloaded prior to January 1, 2007 and download the current version. We regret any inconvenience this may have caused. posted 23-JUL-12 A problem with LF 2008 ("Refresh" - LF_1.1.0) Vegetation Departure (vdep) for zone 79 was recently identified... posted 17-JUL-12 LF 2001 ("Refresh" - LF_1.0.5) / LF 2008 ("Refresh" - LF_1.1.0) Succession Classes (sclass), Vegetation Condition Class (vcc), and Vegetation Departure (vdep) posted 11-MAY-12 LANDFIRE 2001 (LF_1.0.5)/LANDFIRE 2008 (1.1.0) fire regime layers for the zones 37, 46, 48, 54, 55, 56, 98, and 99 are updated 5/11/12... posted 21-DEC-11 LF_1.0.5 / 1.1.0 (Refresh 2001/2008): Vegetation Departure was updated for the following zones... posted 17-NOV-08 Zone 99: A problem was recently identified with the Vegetation Departure (VDEP) layer... posted 22-OCT-08 Zone 99: A problem was identified with the Vegetation Condition Class (VCC) layer... posted 03-JAN-07 Zone 13: A problem was identified with the Succession Classes layer...
Historical Fire Frequency and Severity	Vegetation Departure
Fire Regime Groups - characterize the presumed historical fire regimes within landscapes Mean Fire Return Interval - average period between fires under the presumed historical fire regime Percent Low-severity Fire - low-severity fires relative to mixed- and replacement-severity fires under the presumed historical fire regime Percent Mixed-severity Fire -mixed-severity fires relative to low- and replacement-severity fires under the presumed historical fire regime Percent Replacement-severity Fire - replacement-severity fires relative to low- and mixed-severity fires under the presumed historical fire regime	Vegetation Condition Class - a discrete metric that quantifies the amount that current vegetation has departed from the simulated historical vegetation reference conditions Vegetation Departure - range from 0 - 100 depicting the amount that current vegetation has departed from simulated historical vegetation reference conditions Succession Classes - current vegetation conditions with respect to vegetation species composition, cover, and height ranges of successional states occurring within each biophysical setting

Application

Fire regime products are used:

for landscape assessments	in comparisons of historical to current conditions
to identify landscape management priorities

Follow the links below to learn more about how these data are used for these and other uses:

2009

BLM - Bodie Hills Conservation Action Planning

2007

Vegetation Dynamics Models & VCC to Support Ecological Assessments
Project Summary: Supporting Fire and Land Management Across the Nation