This report describes in detail the various sampling methods and techniques used in quantifying the ground, surface, ladder, and crown or canopy fuel characteristics of the jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.) - black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) BSP) forest in the primary plots of the International Crown Fire Modelling Experiment (ICFME), located about 50 km northeast of Fort Providence, Northwest Territories. The approach involved both general sampling in the study area as a whole and the use of a systematic grid structure for the experimental plots that were to be burned. New data and information on the fuel properties of northern forests were acquired as part of this process (e.g., organic layer bulk density and allometric equations for estimating the dry weight of jack pine and black spruce crowns from stem diameter). Detailed descriptions and summaries of the characteristics of the forest floor, dead-down woody surface fuels by roundwood diameter size class, understory canopy ladder fuel, and overstory crown fuel for each of the primary plots within the ICFME are presented in tabular and graphic form. Representative values for the fuel complex represented by ICFME forest cover type are also given. Vertical fuel profiles were developed, which allowed for the visualization of the distribution and nature of the fine fuels according to height above the ground. The ICFME forest fuel complex exhibited a number of unique characteristics that distinguish it from other stand types dominated by jack pine that have been the subject of empirical, outdoor experimental fire behavior studies.