U.S. Fish and Wildlife ServiceJoint Ventures (JVs) are bird conservation partnerships, established to achieve the goals of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan (NAWMP). There are 22 bird habitat JVs in North America, and our JV, the Upper Mississippi/Great Lakes Region Joint Venture (UMGL JV) is located in the Midwest, in a pivotal location in the Mississippi Flyway , for people involved in migratory bird conservation. We are a collaborative, regional group of government agencies, tribes, nonprofit organizations, corporations, universities, and individuals that conserve habitat for the benefit of migratory birds, other wildlife, and people. Our landscape includes eastern Minnesota; all of Wisconsin and Michigan; eastern Nebraska and Kansas; western, southern and eastern Iowa; northern Missouri, Illinois and Indiana; and northwestern Ohio. To address Waterbird habitat limitation during the breeding period and improve population trend in our JV, we aim to maximize focal species recruitment through conservation of high quality breeding habitats. To help achieve this objective, we combined spatial datasets of eight breeding focal species (see breeding habitat density and distribution maps in Appendix A of the strategic plan) using fuzzy overlay analysis and produced a model highlighting the areas having the most important waterbird breeding habitats for retention and expansion. Finally, we converted the original raster datset of this model to TIFF format (this product) to improve data visualization, assessment, and interactivity online. The raster map was published in the JV Waterbird Habitat Conservation Strategy - 2018 Revision (Figure 10A). This product shows the distribution and relative density (scale of 0 - 1; values of low - high) of the most valuable areas (pixel neighborhoods) across the JV region, to acquire or manage whatever the required conservation action at the local scale is (i.e., retention, protection, and or restoration). Aggregate-priority-areas, emphasized mostly across Bird Conservation Region (BCR) 12 and 23, were predicted to produce the most value for the decision makers. This product can be scaled-down (i.e., stepped-down to state, watershed, county, or any smaller target area) and supplemented with additional local data for customized output maps depicting best areas for Waterbird breeding habitat restoration vs. retention vs. enhancement. See the JV website and related step-down publications for details. Links: To download this TIFF dataset and related data, metadata, and documentation, please browse the UMGL JV online folder in the U.S. Geological Survey's ScienceBase repository . To view and explore this TIFF dataset and related data, please visit the online experience of the UMGL JV Decision Support Tools . References: Model codes and final steps (for internal use of UMGLJV staff): (i) Hcs17Wb8SppBreedYs_FzyOvrlyOr_Hlshd1Sd25Gm25_021518_R1DST_Ready = albers_Jv18WbBrdYs. (ii) albers_Jv18WbBrdYs → converted to TIFF and projected on-the-fly to WGS84 → renamed to Jv18WbBrdYsR. For internal use of USFWS staff: Data Management Plan (DMP) ID = 714; Title: UMGL JV Breeding Waterbird Distribution .ArcGIS ImageMapLayerhttps://hub.arcgis.com/datasets/e1d97e531de04b429e06b04f5c1fc225engU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Open DataPublicJV Breeding Waterbirds (Pxl) [United States]Web servicesUnited StatesLast Modified: 2025-12-05