Main Facility

KBS is located in the Takeru Higuchi building on the University of Kansas West Campus, in Lawrence Kansas. Lawrence is approximately 30 miles east of the state capitol in Topeka and 50 miles west of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area.

The contemporary Higuchi building provides approximately 20,000 square feet of offices, work areas, meeting rooms, and numerous wet labs for aquatic research and laboratories dedicated to remote sensing, GIS, chemistry, and biology research and projects.

The Higuchi building is conveniently located near the R. L. MacGregor Herbarium, which houses much of the KBS Natural Heritage Inventory Program collection, and the Kansas Geological Survey. All types of vehicles can reach West Campus easily, which facilitates the Survey’s field-oriented activities. Easy access to KBS personnel and facilities also is important for the general public, as well as KU staff and students.

Research Facilities & Laboratories

Higuchi Facilities

The Higuchi building houses several laboratories, including wet lab space for aquatic research and projects, biological research facilities, and laboratories dedicated to satellite remote sensing, aerial photography, Geographic Information Systems, and map production.

University of Kansas Field Station
Additional research and laboratory facilities are located at the University of Kansas Field Station, located 10 miles northeast of Lawrence. Established in 1947, KUFS is a 3400-acre reserve comprised of 10 separate tracts that are managed by KBS to support a wide range of conservation, field research, and aquatic research activities. For more information on KUFS, please visit the KUFS website.

Equipment

All KBS research and laboratory facilities are equipped with state-of-the-art PCs and workstations. Software licenses are maintained for a variety of common visualization and analysis packages, as well as for specialized packages for handling maps, imagery, and other spatial data.

KBS maintains an extensive collection of state-of-the-art instruments for water sample analysis, large format plotters for printing custom maps, and specialized laboratory equipment for identifying, photographing, and preparing biological specimens for further analysis or curation.

KBS field equipment includes a fleet of six vehicles, several boats, aquatic sampling gear, field instruments, and global positioning system units. KBS also owns and maintains a Cessna …, with a custom-mounted multi-spectral camera system for mapping, monitoring, and inventory work.