Purple coneflower in bloom on a prairie in front of a sunset.

Working across boundaries to conserve our shared nature

As of February 2025, the Midwest Landscape Initiative has worked with partners to impact over $63 million, 115,000 acres, and 800 river miles towards a thriving network of lands, waters, and communities.

Explore the map below to see examples of how we've worked with various groups to further the impacts of their projects.

Conserving tallgrass prairie across the Midwest

Throughout the Midwest, the MLI is promoting the conservation of tallgrass prairie. In 2023, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri collaborated with the assistance of the MLI to connect their tallgrass prairie work into a single, coordinated funding proposal to America the Beautiful.

Enhancing aquatic habitat in the Upper Minnesota River watershed

In the Upper Minnesota River Watershed, the blueprint is supporting the reconnection of an 800-mile stream network. The Upper Minnesota River Watershed District, along with South Dakota Game, Fish, and Parks, the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation, and others, is working to remove barriers and enhance habitat for more than 40 native fish and freshwater mussel species that use this vital fish passage connection.

Promoting nature-based solutions at Briggs Wetland

In southern Wisconsin, the blueprint is supporting a project to educate conservation professionals and implement nature-based solutions such as beaver dam analogs at Briggs Wetland. The Prairie Enthusiasts and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are working to reduce runoff, improve water quality, and improve vegetation and associated wildlife at this publicly accessible wetland.

Protecting forests across Appalachian Ohio

Throughout southern Ohio, the Midwest Conservation Blueprint is being used to strengthen funding applications for the protection of forests, wetlands, and waterways. Arc of Appalachia, a land trust active in Appalachian Ohio and West Virginia, is aiming to purchase and protect five new sites in Ohio in accordance with their mission of preserving "the beauty, balance, and biodiversity of wildlands in Appalachia."

Supporting statewide planning efforts in Missouri

Across Missouri, the blueprint is playing a role in the Missouri Department of Conservation's planning processes. The Midwest Conservation Blueprint, along with other planning efforts like the Southeast Conservation Blueprint, is being used as a tool for aligning partnerships and resource investment.

Prioritizing restoration in the Shoal Creek Watershed

In southwest Missouri, the blueprint is helping users prioritize restoration projects within the Shoal Creek Watershed. This watershed has a long history of detrimental land use, but is home to several species of conservation concern, such as the endangered Neosho mucket. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, as joint trustees, are working alongside a number of other agencies and organizations to remediate and restore habitat. An interagency work group will target restoration efforts that benefit native mussels, stabilize streambanks, remove aquatic barriers, and reduce contamination of waters.

Advancing collaboration in the Northern Hardwood Forest biome

Across the Northern Hardwood Forest biome, the Midwest Landscape Initiative is collaborating with the Northeast Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies Landscape Conservation Committee to enhance fish and wildlife habitats, increase climate resilience, and improve infrastructure on state-managed lands.

A prairie with tall, golden grasses in focus at the center. In the distance a rolling hill and few trees are visible.

Conserving tallgrass prairie across the Midwest

Midwest Landscape Initiative staff provided support in the form of facilitation and coordination, leading to the co-production of shared language which was incorporated into each state's proposal. Additionally, the MLI provided supporting maps of the proposed project areas overlaid on the Midwest Conservation Blueprint, illustrating the regional importance of the selected project sites. This resulted in a $4.73 million award to conserve, restore, and connect an estimated 28,000 acres of tallgrass prairie!

Seeing the value of multistate collaboration, Nebraska and Iowa once again joined forces a year later to submit a 2024 proposal to America the Beautiful for continued grassland conservation work. Their efforts resulted in an additional $5 million to enhance over 55,000 acres of prairie and savanna!

A calm stream takes up most of the image space, surrounded by green bushes and small trees on either side.

Enhancing aquatic habitat in the Upper Minnesota River watershed

To support this project, the blueprint was used as supporting documentation for funding applications to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Fish Passage Program and the America the Beautiful Challenge. Both applications were successful, resulting in awards totaling $4.6 million! The blueprint demonstrated the regionally-significant conservation importance of this area, including a need for higher levels of aquatic connectivity, plus the potential benefits to nearby communities.

According to Jason Jungwirth, Senior Biologist with South Dakota Game, Fish, and Parks, the MLI and the blueprint "went a long way to providing information to help us develop a solid grant application."

A wetland area with blue water at the bottom of the image and green and gold vegetation taking up the upper half. Some bare trees are visible along the horizon.

Promoting nature-based solutions at Briggs Wetland

The blueprint helped demonstrate to funders the regional importance of the wetland, particularly for habitat connectivity and climate resiliency. The blueprint also illustrated the wetland's connection to local communities through water quality and availability and hazard and disaster risk. The project was ultimately awarded two grants totaling $6,000.

As a result of this project, Mike Engel, a Private Lands Biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, has recommended the blueprint to colleagues!

A man stands in the center of a lush, green forest valley. Ferns and other small plants carpet the ground, while green trees take up much of the background.

A large, dimpled rock in varying shades of brown and tan takes up much of the image's space. In the center, a small brown Tricolored bat huddles upside down in one of the deeper dimples in the rock.

Protecting forests across Appalachian Ohio

Arc of Appalachia partnered with the Midwest Landscape Initiative to demonstrate the regional value of the project sites. An analysis of the blueprint revealed several potential co-benefits of protecting these sites, such as clean surface water, habitat connectivity for terrestrial species, and an increase in accessible outdoor recreation sites for nearby communities. Due to the high alignment between these projects and the blueprint, the MLI supplied letters of support for the site purchases plus supporting maps detailing the results of the blueprint analysis.

Of working with the MLI, Andrea Jaeger, Director of Land Acquisition & Visitor Services for Arc of Appalachia, remarked "This is such an awesome service that you all provide and it really drives home for me the importance of land preservation work, no matter how big or small."

Five adults stand in a large, green field. Two people are holding up a map, and all are facing a woman who appears to be speaking.

In the background, a group of adults stand in a field. In the foreground, two pink flower buds are in focus in the center of the image.

Supporting statewide planning efforts in Missouri

At a regional scale, the blueprint helps identify areas of potential for cross-jurisdictional work, allowing national and regional partners to visualize ecological landscape connectivity across human-imposed borders like state lines. At the statewide scale, Missouri has been able to communicate with key partners about how their work ties together with others. By using the blueprint and state-created planning tools to engage partners, the state has been able to communicate the importance of priority areas for conservation and leverage the strengths of various partners for project implementation.

According to Nate Muenks, the Natural Resource Planning Chief at the Missouri Department of Conservation, "the blueprint aids integration, collaboration, and planning at multiple scales to eventually affect acres on the ground!"

A flowing stream is in the center, surrounded by foliage. The tree leaves are displaying fall colors of light green, bright yellow, and orange.

A heat map depicting an area of the Shoal Creek watershed in Missouri. Most of the map is bright green, but areas of yellow and bright orange are concentrated in a v shape across the center of the map.

Prioritizing restoration in the Shoal Creek Watershed

To prioritize which sites should be targeted for restoration, the blueprint was used as an input data layer to support mapping efforts of the watershed. The blueprint was combined with local data on water quality, habitat connectivity, and imperiled species to depict hotspots of restoration priority. The resulting map (second image) will help all partner agencies target efforts in a coordinated manner and connect with private landowners.

In the foreground, wetlands dominated by thick green grasses abound. Pools of water are visible in small areas. In the center of the image there is a swatch of forest. In the distance, what looks to be a wide river has a large forest behind it.

Advancing collaboration in the Northern Hardwood Forest biome

Midwest and Northeast staff led state participants through a facilitated prioritization process to collaboratively identify goals and select projects for the landscape-level approach to funding. Participants used criteria such as alignment with the Midwest Conservation Blueprint or Nature's Network Conservation Design to collectively evaluate projects for funding across the ecoregion.

Key initiatives selected include restoring hydrology and reducing flooding in Minnesota's peatlands, improving flood control in Wisconsin's Yellow River watersheds, restoring wetlands on the Berkshire plateau in Massachusetts, upgrading infrastructure to support Atlantic salmon habitats in Maine, and treating invasive plant species in Vermont.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service provided $4.6 million in federal Inflation Reduction Act funds to support these impactful conservation projects. This effort not only advanced critical conservation work but also strengthened partnerships between state agencies across the Midwest and Northeast regions.

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