Predicting wildfire impacts on the prehistoric archaeological record of the Jemez Mountains, New Mexico, USA

Friggens, Megan M.; Loehman, Rachel A.; Constan, Connie I.; Kneifel, Rebekah R.

doi:10.1186/s42408-021-00103-6

Fire Ecology

Table 2 Categorical variables used to predict observed artifact- and feature-level fire effects (fire effect) and burn severity class for archaeological sites in the Jemez Mountains, New Mexico, USA, from 2000 to 2011. See Additional file 1 for variable descriptions associated with LANDFIRE codes

From: Predicting wildfire impacts on the prehistoric archaeological record of the Jemez Mountains, New Mexico, USA

Analysis groupings	LANDFIRE classification codes	Observations (n)
Existing Vegetation Cover (EVC)
Vertically projected percent cover of the live canopy layer
Tree cover 10 to 30%	EVC classes: 101, 102	202
Tree cover 30 to 50%%	EVC classes: 103, 104	385
Tree cover >50%`	EVC classes: 105, 106	104
Shrub cover <50%	EVC classes: 112, 113	9
Shrub cover >50%	EVC classes: 114, 115, 116	62
Herb cover <50%	EVC classes: 123, 124	59
Herb cover >50%	EVC classes: 125, 126, 127, 128, 129	37
Existing Vegetation Type (EVT)
Current distribution of plant community types
Piñon–juniper woodland	EVT classes: 2016, 2059	326
Shrub	EVT classes: 2023, 2080, 2101, 2104, 2107, 3086	64
Dry mixed conifer	EVT class: 10	6
Mesic mixed conifer	EVT classes: 2052, 2057	11
Ponderosa pine woodlands	EVT classes: 2054	322
Aspen–riparian	EVT classes: 2061, 2159, 3011	22
Grass	EVT classes: 2076, 2121, 2127, 2133, 2146, 2181, 3182	107
Scott and Burgan Fuel Model (F40)
Distributions of fuel loading found among surface fuel components, size classes, and fuel types
Grass–shrub, fuel bed ≤1 ft (30.5 cm) depth	F40 classes: 101, 121, 141, 142	113
Grass–shrub, fuel bed >1 ft (30.5 cm)depth	F40 classes: 102, 122, 145, 147	418
Timber, fuel bed ≤1 ft (30.5 cm)depth	F40 classes: 161, 181, 183	117
Timber, fuel bed >1 ft (30.5 cm)depth	F40 classes: 165, 188	210
Fuel Loading Model (FLM)*
Surface fuel classification with representative loadings for woody and non-woody fuel components
Light, no logs	FLM class: 11	642
Low load shrub	FLM classes: 14, 15	20
Light logs, duff	FLM classes: 21, 31,72	169
Herb–grass	FLM classes: 511, 521	27
Vegetation Condition Class (VCC)
Level of departure of current vegetation from historical vegetation reference conditions
Very low, departure 0 to 16%	VCC: I.A	127
Low to moderate, departure 17 to 33%	VCC: I.B	130
Moderate to low, departure 34 to 50%	VCC: II.A	601

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