U.S. Fish & Wildlife ServiceDefinition This indicator identifies the availability of lake habitat within the Midwest Landscape. It prioritizes lakes greater than one hectare based on watershed condition and nearshore landcover. Pixels can take the following values: 1 - Lake or reservoir with high disturbance (>60%) in upstream watershed. 2 - Lake or reservoir with medium disturbance (>25-60%) in upstream watershed. 3 - Lake or reservoir with low disturbance (0-25%) in upstream watershed . Selection This indicator was chosen as a targetable, important feature of the MLI goals that will be used to track conditions over time and prioritize areas for conservation. Indicators were defined through elicitation and prioritization exercises with federal and state participants. Criteria for the indicators includes 1) actionable, 2) measurable, 3) relevant to multiple groups across the region, and/or 4) representative of other social and/or environmental values. Input Data & Mapping Steps This indicator originates from the LAGOS-US dataset, the National Land Cover Database, and Lapierre et al. Continuous Lake Classifications. To create this layer, MLI partners, members, and staff completed the following mapping steps: projected all input data to NAD83 (2011) UTM Zone 15N, joined LAGOS polygons with the Continuous Lake Classifications table, and converted the polygon layer to a raster based on the total percentage of agriculture and development in each lakeshed. We reclassified the raster into the following classes: 1 - Lake or reservoir with high disturbance (>60%) in upstream watershed, 2 - Lake or reservoir with medium disturbance (>25-60%) in upstream watershed, and 3 - Lake or reservoir with low disturbance (0-25%) in upstream watershed. Finally, we removed highly altered areas using our Highly Altered Areas mask. For full mapping details, please refer to the Midwest Conservation Blueprint Development Process . For a complete download of all Blueprint input and output data, visit the Midwest Conservation Blueprint 2026 Data Download.ArcGIS ImageMapLayerhttps://hub.arcgis.com/datasets/049feb920f6e449ea1c47e68f8765d5dengU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Open DataPublicLakes (Midwest Conservation Blueprint 2026 Indicator) [United States]Web servicesUnited States2026