See Interactive Map Below
Ecoregions are large geographic areas characterized by their climate, vegetation, geology, and other ecological and environmental patterns.
In 1996, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) adopted Conservation by Design: A Framework for Mission Success, which established a long-term conservation goal, and an ecoregional approach for planning to achieve the goal. TNC’s then goal was “the long-term survival of all viable native species and communities through the design and conservation of portfolios of sites within ecoregions.”
TNC identified and mapped 68 ecoregions (later modified to 69) in the lower 48 United States, based upon Robert Bailey’s U.S. Forest Service ECOMAP framework.
The product of ecoregional planning was a “portfolio” of conservation sites. The Conservancy hoped that the ecoregional plans would “provide a vision of conservation success, not just for The Nature Conservancy, but for the entire conservation community.”
To view Protected Areas in an ecoregion, go to Rankings and use the Filters to select an ecoregion in the spreadsheet.
- Apache Highlands
- Arizona-New Mexico Mountains
- Aspen Parkland
- Black Hills
- California Central Coast
- California North Coast
- California South Coast
- Canadian Rocky Mountains
- Central Appalachian Forest
- Central Mixed-Grass Prairie
- Central Tallgrass Prairie
- Central Shortgrass Prairie
- Chesapeake Bay Lowlands
- Chihuahuan Desert
- Colorado Plateau
- Columbia Plateau
- Crosstimbers & Southern Tallgrass Prairie
- Cumberlands & Southern Ridge and Valley
- Dakota Mixed-Grass Prairie
- East Cascades – Modoc Plateau
- East Gulf Coastal Plain
- Edwards Plateau
- Fescue Mixed-Grass Prairie
- Florida Peninsula
- Great Basin
- Great Central Valley
- Great Lakes
- Gulf Coast Prairies & Marshes
- High Allegheny Plateau
- Interior Low Plateau
- Klamath Mountains
- Lower New England / Northern Piedmont
- Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain
- Middle Rockies – Blue Mountains
- Mississippi River Alluvial Plain
- Mojave Desert
- North Atlantic Coast
- North Cascades
- North Central Tillplain
- Northern Appalachian -Acadian
- Northern Great Plains Steppe
- Northern Tallgrass Prairie
- Okanagan
- Osage Plains – Flint Hills Prairie
- Oauchita Mountains
- Ozarks
- Pacific Northwest Coast
- Piedmont
- Prairie-Forest Border
- Sierra Nevada
- Sonoran Desert
- South Atlantic Coastal Plain
- Southern Blue Ridge
- Southern Rocky Mountains
- Southern Shortgrass Prairie
- St. Lawrence – Champlain Valley
- Superior Mixed Forest
- Tamaulipian Thornscrub
- Tropical Florida
- Upper East Gulf Coastal Plain
- Upper West Gulf Coastal Plain
- Utah-Wyoming Rocky Mountains
- Utah High Plateaus
- West Cascades
- West Gulf Coastal Plain
- Western Allegheny Plateau
- Willamette Valley – Puget Trough
- Wyoming Basins