The potential for high-severity fires to affect changes in rangelands is considerable, and for this reason, assessing fire severity is critical. We explored fire severity modeling in rangelands by applying post-fire field observations to Satellite Pour l'Observation de la Terre 5 (SPOT 5) imagery using Classification Tree Analysis (CTA) techniques at two 2005 burns. The results of these analyses demonstrate that CTA is equally adept at classifying areas of low severity as well as those with high severity with reliable accuracy (66-100%). Furthermore, the CTA technique is fairly uncomplicated to apply and provides an error assessment upon which land managers can better justify their recommendations.
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