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The 2012 Region 24 Complex fire in north central Nebraska was the state's largest fire in recent history.  With more than 76,000 acres burned, this fire provided a unique opportunity to study effects of fire intensity on post-fire succession.  In 2013, we looked at survival and recovery of plant species in plots ranging from open savanna to dense pine woodlands with eastern red cedar (ERC) understories.  Eighteen 30 m2 plots were split into nine subplots in which pre-fire tree basal area and density was reconstructed. Plant species were determined using a presence/absence method for the northwest 1 m2 of each subplot. Plots were chosen to represent a gradient of forest density (grassland to dense forest), slopes, and topographic positions (footslope, midslope, and ridgetop). In a typical fire in this area, fire intensity should be correlated with ponderosa pine and/or ERC density, the area's major tree species.  All ponderosa pine and ERC in the sample plots were killed due to the intense nature of the fire.  In contrast, bur oak suckering was common.  Perennial grass and forb regrowth was generally restricted to open grassland plots.  An annual-dominated post-fire community was found in all other plots, although there was a significant difference in species composition between conifer and broadleaf dominated plots. The long-term goal of this research is to understand the recovery of grassland, ponderosa pine, ERC, and broadleaf (e.g. oak) components of this landscape, as well as fire-driven transitions amongst these cover types.