The overarching goal of the Ecological Drought initiative is to support the effective management of ecosystems and human communities in the context of drought. To meet this goal, we aim to identify drought impacts across the country, synthesize our our knowledge of the ecological impacts of drought, so that we can get a complete picture of what we know and where the gaps are – which will help guide future research, communicate this knowledge to resource managers and other stakeholders, and support decision-making by ensuring that resource managers have the information they need to prepare for and respond to drought.