This vegetation dataset was one of several biotic layers to provide best available conditions representing the landscape. The data collected and compiled for the Great Plains Landscape Conservation Cooperative (GPLCC) will inform regional-scale landscape assessments with spatially explicit representation of natural resource, habitat, conservation, management and other social and environmental values. Preliminary analyses will summarize spatial statistics, and data are ultimately expected to directly inform species and habitat distribution models and vulnerability assessments. Future research efforts applying these data may include regional hydrologic modeling, wetland habitat vulnerability and connectivity assessments, species distribution modeling, and investigation of interactions among land use, land cover and prairie habitat distributions. A simple summary of the data and discussion of potential applications and implications for future work (e.g., species distribution modeling and vulnerability assessments) will accompany the distribution of these data via the Great Plains Landscape Conservation Cooperative (GPLCC).Purpose provided by original data sources: "LANDFIRE is a five-year, multi-partner wildland fire, ecosystem, and wildland fuel mapping project. This project will generate consistent, comprehensive maps and data describing vegetation, fire, and fuel characteristics across the United States in support the National Fire Plan and the Healthy Forests Restoration Act. The LANDFIRE Project is producing digital geospatial data describing existing vegetation composition and structure, wildland fuel (crown and surface), simulated historical fire regimes, and current departure from simulated historical vegetation conditions. The consistent and comprehensive nature of LANDFIRE methods ensures that data will be nationally relevant, while the 30-meter grid resolution assures that data can be locally applicable. Mapped data is produced based on peer-reviewed science from the fields of remote sensing, ecosystem simulation, vegetation and disturbance ecology, predictive landscape mapping, landscape simulation, and fire behavior and effects modeling. LANDFIRE is supported by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service Office of Fire and Aviation Management, the US Department of Interior (US DOI) Office of Wildland Fire Coordination, and The Nature Conservancy. LANDFIRE tasks are completed at the USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory (MFSL) in Missoula, Montana; USDOI Geological Survey for Earth Resources Observation and Science , USGS EROS in Sioux Falls, South Dakota; and The Nature Conservancy in Boulder, Colorado. LANDFIRE meets agency, partner, and stakeholder needs for data to support landscape fire management planning, prioritization of fuel treatments, collaboration, community and firefighter protection, and effective resource allocation."