Midwest Conservation Blueprint 2024 [U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service]
Description
Description The Midwest Conservation Blueprint 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. Pixels of the Blueprint can take the following values: Highest Conservation Priority (covers roughly 10% of the Blueprint area, 100-90th percentile) High Conservation Priority (covers roughly 15% of the Blueprint area, 90-75th percentile) Medium Conservation Priority (covers roughly 20% of the Blueprint area, 75-55th percentile) Connections Between Priority Areas (covers roughly 5% of the Blueprint area, 55-50th percentile). These pixels represent connections between prioritized areas (Highest, High, and Medium Conservation Priority pixels) that cover the shortest distance possible, routing through the highest pixels values of unprioritized areas possible. Priority for Conservation (covers roughly 50% of the Blueprint area, bottom 50th percentile) Development 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 mapping details, please refer to the Midwest Conservation Blueprint 2024 Development Process . For a complete download of all Blueprint input and output data, visit the Midwest Conservation Blueprint 2024 ScienceBase page .
Creator
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Temporal Coverage
2024
Date Issued
2024-10-10
Rights
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) shall not be held liable for improper or incorrect use of the data described and/or contained herein. While the Service makes every reasonable effort to ensure the accuracy and completeness of data provided for distribution, it may not have the necessary accuracy or completeness required for every possible intended use. The Service recommends that data users consult the associated metadata record to understand the quality and possible limitations of the data. The Service creates metadata records in accordance with the standards endorsed by the Federal Geographic Data Committee. As a result of the above considerations, the Service gives no warranty, expressed or implied, as to the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of the data. It is the responsibility of the data user to use the data in a manner consistent with the limitations of geospatial data in general and these data in particular. Although these data have been processed successfully on a computer system at the Service, no warranty, expressed or implied, is made regarding the utility of the data on another system or for general or scientific purposes, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty. This applies to the use of the data both alone and in aggregate with other data and information.
Access Rights
Public
Format
ArcGIS ImageMapLayer
Language
English
Date Added
August 10, 2025
Provenance Statement
The metadata for this resource was last retrieved from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Open Data on 2025-08-24.
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (2024). Midwest Conservation Blueprint 2024 [U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service]. . https://gis-fws.opendata.arcgis.com/content/fws::midwest-conservation-blueprint-2024 (web service)