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In 2014, Quivira National Wildlife refuge in central Kansas initiated a collaborative research project with Fort Hays State University to develop long-term monitoring protocols. As part of this monitoring effort breeding bird point-count surveys focused on grassland bird species were established. Survey transects contained 30 observation points arranged to investigate grassland bird community associations with habitat classifications as defined by the US Fish and Wildlife Service�s National Vegetation Classification System (NVCS). Surveys yielded 14,061 observations of 48 species in 2016 and 16,304 observations of 57 species in 2017. Multi-season occupancy modeling and nonmetric multidimensional scaling were conducted to assess bird community relationships to vegetation characteristics at each observation point. As the project progresses, additional analysis of bird communities will be conducted using remote vegetation sensing and the addition of habitat management covariates.