In late August 2000, the Jasper Fire burned ~33,000 ha or 7% of the Black Hills National Forest, South Dakota. This was the largest recorded fire in the Black Hills. The Jasper Fire burned under a variety of vegetative, topographic, and meteorological conditions creating a mosaic of vegetative mortality in patches of varying size and extent. This fire appears to be similar to other historical fires in interior forests of the Black Hills in that it was an extensive, late season burn. The heterogeneity of fire effects suggests that fire behavior was spatially and temporally variable, exhibiting characteristics of surface, crown, and a combination of these fire types. As part of a five-year effort, we established a network of permanent sites within the burn to monitor the influence of pre-fire vegetative conditions, fire size, and consumptive patterns on post-fire ecological succession. Direct fire effects on overstory, understory, forest floor, and soil components were assessed in 2001. Measurements of direct fire effects on soil and vegetation will be translated to quantitatively-based severity indices. Given the spatial extent and heterogeneity of the burn we can address questions relating to fire behavior and the timing and response of vegetation recovery. An assessment of mixed fire behavior within the signature of the Jasper Fire may provide a more unified and plausible idea of common fire behavior that has shaped landscapes within the Black Hills ecosystem.