The 2023 Midwest Conservation Blueprint is a basemap of priority lands and waters for conservation in the Midwest. It consists of over 20 social and environmental values that represent diverse interests across society. It guides the realization of a thriving landscape of healthy lands and waters supporting wildlife, fish, and plants, embraced by all who live, work, and recreate in the Midwest. Specifically, it serves as an invitation to all those in the Midwest to better coordinate voluntary conservation actions and investments across the region by focusing and aligning conservation work across jurisdictions, attracting and directing funding sources for conservation, and connecting with conservation partners and opening the door to all audiences. The Blueprint originates from over 20 datasets corresponding to targetable, important features that represent at least one ecological or societal priority on the landscape. To create the Blueprint, we use the prioritization software Zonation v5 to identify core priority areas. Additionally, we use Linkage Mapper to identify important areas for connectivity between core areas. The Midwest Conservation Blueprint is a living map and evolves annually driven by improvements to our underlying science and knowledge, our growing understanding of on-the-ground conditions, and input from relevant authorities and actors on the landscape. Landscape-scale planning products cannot, and are not designed to, replace local knowledge or to supersede decision-making authorities. However, by synthesizing existing spatial data and planning at a broader scale, the Midwest Conservation Blueprint documents where there are shared priorities, and thus opportunities for collaboration, across the landscape. For full development details, including all mapping steps, please refer to the Midwest Conservation Blueprint 2023 Development Process document.
