The Midwest Conservation Blueprint Ecoregions are an input for the Midwest Landscape Initiative’s (MLI) 2023 Midwest Conservation Blueprint. Before calculating the regional priority areas for conservation, we stratify the Midwest Landscape into Ecoregions. This polygon layer contains the spatial boundaries of the ecoregions used for the stratification. Breaking down the Midwest Landscape into Ecoregions reduces processing time of our spatial planning software and ensures a fairer comparison of indicators across an ecologically diverse region. By stratifying the landscape, each map pixel will only be compared and prioritized in relation to other pixels of the same ecosystem type. Ecoregional boundaries are based on the EPA’s Level II, III, and IV Ecoregions and were created to reduce variation in ecoregional size while differentiating unique ecosystem types.
