Public Recreation Access is an indicator of the Midwest Landscape Initiative’s (MLI) 2023 Midwest Conservation Blueprint. The Blueprint is a basemap of priority lands and waters for conservation across the Midwest consisting of over 20 social and environmental values representing diverse interests across society. 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. This indicator identifies the ability to enjoy outdoor spaces for recreation (e.g., hunting, birding, hiking, etc.) as well as physical and mental health purposes within the Midwest Landscape. It prioritizes areas based on locations of current public recreation sites plus potential areas for public recreation near large human populations. This indicator originates from the Protected Areas Database, Open Street Map roads, US Census Bureau population data, and the National Land Cover Database. To create this layer, MLI partners, members, and staff completed the following mapping steps: projected all input data to NAD83 (2011) UTM Zone 15N, selected current and potential public recreation areas from the Protected Areas Database, Open Street Map, and the National Land Cover Database, scaled the value of each recreation area pixel by proximity to human population centers, emphasized current recreation areas over potential recreation areas, and emphasized natural assets, resulting in a raster with the following values: 1 – Below-average public recreation access score, not a natural asset, 2 – Below-average public recreation access score, natural assets, 3 – Above-average public recreation access score OR current public recreation area, not a natural asset, 4 – Above-average public recreation access score OR current public recreation area, natural assets. Finally, we removed highly altered areas using our Highly Altered Areas Mask. For full mapping details, please refer to the Midwest Conservation Blueprint 2023 Development Process document.
