Once dominated by short-, tall-, and mixed-grass prairie, the biologically productive lands of this Great Plains state have been widely converted for agricultural use. Nearly 20 percent of all Kansans, rural and urban, are employed in jobs related to agriculture (National Agricultural Statistics Service, 2005).

Disturbance, drought, fire supression, sprawl, and other factors provide invasive plant species with opportunity, and native prairie plant species are in demise. Four hundred thousand square miles of Kansas' native prairie are protected in the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, and other groups are working to preserve additional parts of this unique landscape.