Fig. 3

Workflow diagram for the two different methods of defining fire severity: one for recent (1984–2020) fires and another for older (before 1984) fires. Defining the severity of older fires necessitated a separate workflow because the status of trees as surviving a fire or establishing afterward could not be visually discerned in the field with the same level of confidence as recently burned plots. Furthermore, in older fire plots, there was no clear threshold at 70% fire-killed basal area, but a clear distinction existed between plots that had no evidence of fire-surviving trees and those that clearly did have fire-surviving trees. Thus, a slightly different classification scheme was used for older fires, designed to keep the distinctions of low-, moderate-, and high-severity fires as consistent as possible between old and recent fires