Joshua Tree National Park Fire Analyses

The up-to-date version of these analyses can be viewed here on GitHub Pages!

This repository contains input data and outputs for fire impact assessments within Joshua Tree National Park (JOTR). These analyses support the post-fire reporting requirements of the National Park Service (NPS), with an emphasis on timeliness and accuracy.

🔥 Fire Analyses

Fire	Date	Historical Overlap	Analysis
Eureka Fire	May 2025	Yes (includes veg × fire history analysis)	View HTML
Black Rock Fire	October 2025	No (100% previously unburned)	View HTML

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Development Setup

renv

This analysis uses renv for package management using R version 4.4.3. This can be installed using renv::refresh() when inside of the working directory in RStudio.

VSCode Dev Container

Alternatively, one can run the analysis in VSCode using:

• VSCode
• the Dev Containers extension within VSCode
• Docker (Docker Desktop or a preferred alternative)

Then, within the repository in VSCode, run:

• Cmd + Shift + P -> Dev Containers: Reopen in Container

When inside the container, to knit / render a Quarto document, run:

• Cmd + Shift + P -> Quarto: Render Document, with the desired .qmd file open.

Or, more simply, from a terminal:

• $ quarto render

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📂 Repository Structure

📂 jotr_2025_fire_eda/
├── fires/
│   ├── eureka/
│   │   ├── eureka_fire_exploration.qmd       Main analysis notebook
│   │   ├── NDVI_planetscope.R                Pre/post-burn NDVI script
│   │   ├── inputs/
│   │   │   └── refined_rbr.tif               RBR raster from Fire Severity Tool
│   │   └── outputs/
│   │       ├── fire_perimeter/               Extracted fire boundary shapefile
│   │       ├── veg_burned_summary.csv        Vegetation area by type
│   │       ├── severity_veg_summary.csv      RBR stats by vegetation type
│   │       ├── severity_fire_history.csv     RBR stats by historical fire
│   │       ├── severity_veg_firehist.csv     RBR stats by veg × fire history
│   │       └── NDVI_EurekaFire.png           NDVI visualization
│   │
│   └── black_rock/
│       ├── black_rock_fire_exploration.qmd   Main analysis notebook
│       ├── inputs/
│       │   └── refined_rbr.tif               RBR raster from Fire Severity Tool
│       └── outputs/
│           ├── fire_perimeter/               Extracted fire boundary shapefile
│           ├── veg_burned_summary.csv        Vegetation area by type
│           ├── severity_veg_summary.csv      RBR stats by vegetation type
│           └── severity_fire_history.csv     RBR stats by historical fire
│
├── shared_inputs/
│   ├── jotrgeodata.gpkg                      Vegetation polygons (JOTR_VegPolys layer)
│   └── HistFires_JOTR_MOJA/                  Historic fires shapefile
│
├── docs/                                     Rendered HTML output for GitHub Pages
├── _quarto.yml                               Quarto site configuration
├── index.qmd                                 Site landing page
└── README.md                                 This file

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Data Sources

• Relativized Burn Ratio (RBR): Derived from the Fire Severity Tool by the Schmidt Center for Data Science and Environment.
• Vegetation Polygons: Geospatial data for the Vegetation Mapping Inventory Project of JOTR, provided by the National Park Service (NPS).
• Historic Fires: Historic fires shapefile filtered to JOTR and Mojave National Preserve boundaries, from CAL FIRE.