U.S. Fish & Wildlife ServiceDefinition This indicator identifies the vulnerability of communities to impacts of hazards and other community-level stressors, which can include natural or human-caused disasters. It prioritizes areas based on environmental and socioeconomic burdens. Pixels can take the following values: 1 - Lower risk of air or water pollution, not a natural asset 2 - Lower risk of air or water pollution, natural asset 3 - Medium risk of air or water pollution, not a natural asset 4 - Medium risk of air or water pollution, natural asset 5 - Higher risk of air or water pollution, not a natural asset 6 - Higher risk of air or water pollution, natural asset 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 EPA Cumulative Respiratory Risk from Air Toxins and EPA Total Permitted Discharges. To create this layer, MLI partners, members, and staff completed the following mapping steps: projected all input data to NAD83 (2011) UTM Zone 15N, converted polygon input data layers to 30m rasters, mosaicked the air toxins and permitted discharges rasters into a single layer representing overall pollution risk, and emphasized natural assets within the most vulnerable areas for a raster with the following values: 1 - Lower risk of air or water pollution, not a natural asset, 2 - Lower risk of air or water pollution, natural asset, 3 - Medium risk of air or water pollution, not a natural asset, 4 - Medium risk of air or water pollution, natural asset, 5 - Higher risk of air or water pollution, not a natural asset, and 6 - Higher risk of air or water pollution, natural asset. 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/fe6470d468104886bc3bd4c2688094ccengU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Open DataPublicHazard & Disaster Risk - Pollution (Midwest Conservation Blueprint 2026 Indicator) [United States]Web servicesUnited States2026