Midwest Conservation Blueprint 2026

<p><span style='font-size:18px;'><strong>Description</strong></span><br />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:</p><ul><li>Highest Conservation Priority (covers roughly 10% of the Blueprint area, 100-90th percentile)</li><li>High Conservation Priority (covers roughly 15% of the Blueprint area, 90-75th percentile)</li><li>Medium Conservation Priority (covers roughly 20% of the Blueprint area, 75-55th percentile)</li><li>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.</li><li>Priority for Conservation (covers roughly 50% of the Blueprint area, bottom 50th percentile)<br />&nbsp;</li></ul><p><span style='font-size:18px;'><strong>Development</strong></span><br />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.</p><p>For full mapping details, please refer to the <a target='_blank' href='https://fws.maps.arcgis.com/sharing/rest/content/items/e983a4ff0f6d475cb9336fba1c1fbbaa/data' rel='nofollow ugc noopener noreferrer'>Midwest Conservation Blueprint Development Process</a>. For a complete download of all Blueprint input and output data, visit the <a target='_blank' href='https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/69851105b66b018dbd961c58' rel='nofollow ugc noopener noreferrer'>Midwest Conservation Blueprint 2026 ScienceBase page</a>.</p>