Little information is available regarding fendlerbush fire ecology and adaptations.
Pinyon-juniper communities where fendlerbush is commonly found historically burned every 10 to 30 years, which favored dominance by grasses. However, for the last 70 years, heavy livestock grazing has reduced grass competition and fuel, and shrub cover has increased. On 23 grazed transects in desert shrub communities where fendlerbush occurs in the Guadelupe Mountains, New Mexico, shrubs had only 6.4 to 6.6 percent cover.