Vegetation data from burned and unburned sagebrush communities in eastern Washington (2016)

The dataset includes several variables sampled across burned and unburned sagebrush communities located in an approximately 30 square kilometer portion of the Columbia Plateau Ecoregion in eastern Washington, USA. The study area is characterized by landforms interspersed at fine-scales, representative of the channeled scabland topography of the region (Baker 2009), including: "mounds," which are dome-like micro-topographic features, typically 1-2 m in height and approximately 2 m to 25 m in mean diameter, with relatively deep, well-drained loess soils; and surrounding "flats," with rocky, thin-soils over basaltic bedrock. Unburned mounds are typically dominated by big sagebrush (A. tridentata) and flats by scabland sagebrush (A. rigida) communities. We used a stratified-random sampling design to select potential sites across the study area based on two primary strata: 1) landform-community type (i.e. big sagebrush mounds and scabland sagebrush flats); and 2) recent fire frequency, including unburned, once- (2012), twice- (2003, 2012), and thrice-burned (2003, 2007, 2012) areas. A total of 80 sites (10 sites X two landforms X four burned strata) were sampled in 2016. Vegetation sampling was conducted at each site within a 10 x 10 m plot, a size and shape deemed optimal for the small landforms. Within each plot we measured several vegetation characteristics as outlined in the Data Quality Section. Baker, V.R., 2009, The Channeled Scabland: A Retrospective, Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci., 37:393-411, https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.earth.061008.134726.