One of the necessary components for describing fire hazard in Southern California chaparral is fuel state. Fuel state is measured as live and dead fuel moisture. In the wildland fire community, fuel moisture is almost exclusively measured on a dry weight basis. The dry weight measurement is preferred because it only responds to changes in the amount of water present in the fuel and not the fuel physiology (Pyne et. al., 1996). Dead fuel moisture is regulated by the environmental conditions the dead fuel is exposed to, such as temperature, humidity, and windspeed (Rothermel et. al., 1986). Live fuel moisture is regulated by the host plant to which the fuel is attached. Fluctuations in live fuel moisture are a function of the amount of water available to the plant as well as the fuel's location within the plant. WHC is sampling live fuel moisture in the Santa Monica Mountains. The plots below show measured live fuel moisture of three chaparral species against time.