U.S. Fish & Wildlife ServiceDefinition This indicator identifies the ability to enjoy outdoor spaces for recreation (e.g., hunting, birding, hiking, etc.) as well as physical and mental health purposes within the Midwest Landscape. It prioritizes areas based on locations of current public recreation sites. Pixels can take the following values: 1 - Public recreation area, not a natural asset 2 - Public recreation area, natural assets 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 Protected Areas Database and Open Street Map roads. To create this layer, MLI partners, members, and staff completed the following mapping steps: projected all input data to NAD83 (2011) UTM Zone 15N, selected current Open Access and Restricted Access public recreation areas from the Protected Areas Database, selected non-sidewalk walking trails from Open Street Map, combined data into a single layer and converted it to a 30m raster, and emphasized natural assets within recreation sites, resulting in a raster with the following values: 1 - Public recreation area, not a natural asset, and 2 - Public recreation area, natural assets. 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/522f33cd058b4a3ab78a40c3e2690f1aengU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Open DataPublicPublic Recreation Access (Midwest Conservation Blueprint 2026 Indicator) [United States]Web servicesUnited States2026