The interactions of wildfire and bark beetle outbreaks and their reciprocal influences on fire behavior, bark beetle dynamics, and ecosystem structure are critical research issues in many coniferous forests of the Intermountain West. We combined field studies with new remote sensing methods to address three main questions regarding the recent bark beetle outbreak in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE): (1) What are the current patterns of beetle outbreaks in the GYE, and what broad- and fine-scale factors explain these patterns? (2) How do bark beetle outbreaks influence the probability and severity of wildfire, and how does post-disturbance biomass recovery differ between bark beetle outbreaks and wildfire? (3) How does the pattern of fire-damaged trees influence the pattern and severity of current and future MPB outbreaks?