Major Land Resource Areas (MLRA)

These data were released prior to the October 1, 2016 effective date for the USGS’s policy dictating the review, approval, and release of scientific data as referenced in USGS Survey Manual Chapter 502.8 Fundamental Science Practices: Review and Approval of Scientific Data for Release. This is a polygon coverage of the Land Resource Regions and Major Land Resource Areas of the conterminous United States. Land resource regions are geographic areas that are characterized by a particular pattern of soils, climate, water resources and land uses. (USDA, Soil Conservation Service, 1981). Major land resource areas are subregions of the land resource regions and comprise smaller homogeneous areas. The scale of this coverage is 1:2,000,000. [...]