Leaders within the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission recognized the need for current vegetation datasets and maps to facilitate conservation planning and management. Prior to the initiation of this project, Ecological Mapping System (EMS) datasets had been completed by the Missouri Resource Assessment Partnership (MoRAP) for Texas and Oklahoma (Elliott et al. 2014, Diamond and Elliott 2015). The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service facilitated meetings among states that highlighted the Texas and Oklahoma datasets. This led state leaders in Kansas and Nebraska to initiate the current project, with the aims of (1) producing the highest quality digital and map datasets possible, and (2) leveraging funds from each state by combining efforts. MoRAP was the overall project coordinator, and primary funding and oversight came from the states.
