Collaborative conservation takes time, and our investments pay off when we find shared priorities and create tools to help us make better decisions. We are excited to share that the Midwest Conservation Blueprint is now available to assist collaborative, landscape conservation efforts across the Midwest.

The Midwest Conservation Blueprint is a base map of priority lands and waters for conservation. This living blueprint reflects more than 20 social and environmental values, such as environmental justice and climate resiliency. The blueprint will better equip the Midwest conservation community to create a thriving landscape of healthy lands and waters that supports wildlife, fish and plants for all who live, work, and recreate in the region.

Conservation practitioners and others who use the blueprint can overlay their own maps, priorities, and plans. They can also scale their view of the Midwest to identify focal areas and engage with a broad network of partners. When added to the blueprint, other data and maps can be quickly understood within a broader, landscape context.

Specifically, the Midwest Conservation Blueprint serves as an invitation to improve coordination of voluntary conservation actions and investments across the midwest region by focusing and aligning conservation work across organizations, attracting and directing funding for conservation and connecting partners and welcoming everyone.

Blueprints show us where we have opportunities to link habitats and ecosystems so species can move and potentially adapt to changing climates. In addition to connecting habitats, it’s just as important to connect partners of different jurisdictions, organizations and missions through a shared vision. Whether your interest in the Midwest landscape is to conserve birds or to improve water quality, the Midwest Conservation Blueprint can be a useful tool to support your work. 

“The ability of the Midwest Conservation Blueprint to illustrate conservation indicators specific to our region that can also be overlaid with local spatial data make this a powerful resource for state fish and wildlife agencies to use to inform on the ground conservation action being completed by staff and partners,” said Sara Parker Pauley, Director of the Missouri Department of Conservation.

Blueprints represent collaborative partnerships and their shared priorities. Active collaboration from more than 50 individuals and 12 organizations strengthens the blueprint through a diversity of stewardship styles. This product was co-produced by the Midwest Landscape Initiative and is a living map meant to be continually improved upon by new data and community feedback. 

Ongoing and recorded webinars are available to guide new users in how to operate the blueprint. Staff are available to help support your work by guiding grant proposals, informing conservation decisions and connecting with others across the region. To stay up to date, you can sign up for email updates from the MLI. Additionally, feel free to contact MLI staff directly.

On behalf of the Midwest Landscape Initiative, we hope everyone will take advantage of this conservation tool and the wider collaborative. The path toward a healthier environment is winding, but the blueprint represents another step taken. 

Change moves at the speed of relationships; the Midwest Landscape Initiative serves as a key connector setting the stage for long-term success in collaborative conservation. This network leverages and coordinates a shared capacity and expertise to accomplish conservation outcomes greater than any one partner working alone can achieve.

Learn more about the latest blueprint webinar and sign up for future webinars.