Level III and IV Ecoregions of EPA Region 5 November 2010

96° 94° 92° 90° 88° 86° 84° 82° 80°

Timmins

LAKE 48° O F T H E WOODS Red

48b 48d 46 Northern Glaciated Plains Thunder 53 Southeastern Wisconsin Till Plains Bay 46e Tewaukon/Big Stone Stagnation Moraine 49a Little 53a Rock River Drift Plain

46k Prairie Coteau Fork 53b Kettle Moraines

River 46l Prairie Coteau Escarpment River 53c Southeastern Wisconsin Savannah and Till Plain UPPER 50n Brule 46m Big Sioux Basin 48a RED LAKE River 50d 53d Lake Michigan Lacustrine Clay Plain 48° 48c 49b

Thief LOWER 46o Minnesota River Prairie RED LAKE 54 Central Corn Belt Plains 48b 50t 47 Western Corn Belt Plains 48b 54a Illinois/Indiana Prairies 50s 47a Loess Prairies 48a 48d 50r 50m 50d 54b Chicago Lake Plain River 50p 47b Des Moines Lobe 48b LAKE SUPERIOR CANADA 54c Kankakee Marsh Sudbury 47c Eastern Iowa and Minnesota Drift Plains 50o 54d Sand Area 46i Sault 47g Lower St. Croix and Vermillion Valleys Ste. Marie 46° 54e Chiwaukee Prairie Region 50a 50a 50u 50z 48 Lake Agassiz Plain 50q 50d 50x 54f Valparaiso-Wheaton Morainal Complex 50w 50x 48a Glacial Lake Agassiz Basin 50z 54g Rock River Hills Pine Riv 50a e

River 50d Indian r 48b Beach Ridges and Sand Deltas Escanaba 50y 50aa 55 Eastern Corn Belt Plains 50c White River50a 50v 48d Lake Agassiz Plains 48b River 50b Kettle 55a Clayey High Lime Till Plains River 50aa 49 Northern Minnesota Wetlands 50ab 55b Loamy High Lime Till Plains

51j River Mississippi 50e 50aa 49a Peatlands River 50l 50ac 55c Mad River Interlobate Area Pine 50ac 50ab 46° 51l Cedar River 49b Forested Lake Plains 46c 46e 50ac 55d Pre-Wisconsinan Drift Plains Chippewa River 50i 50k 55e Darby Plains 50 Northern Lakes and Forests 51k Snake River 50j 51g 50g 50ac 55f Whitewater Interlobate Area 50a Lake Superior Clay Plain 51k 51a Wolf River 51m 50ad 46o 46e 51h 50f 50h Peshtigo River 51g L A K E H U R O N 50b Minnesota/Wisconsin Upland Till Plain Elk River 51m 56 Southern Michigan/Northern Indiana 50c St. Croix Pine Barrens Drift Plains 56a Northern Indiana Lake Country 50d Superior Mineral Ranges 51m 46l 46o River Au Sable 56b Battle Creek/Elkhart Outwash Plain 50e Chequamegon Moraines and Outwash Plain Minneapolis 51b River 51g 44° 51e 51n River Pensaukee 50ae 56c Middle Tippecanoe Plains

47g River 50f Blue Hills 51i Saint Paul 51f Minnesota 56d Michigan Lake Plain 50g Chippewa Lobe Rocky Ground Moraines 47b 46k 50ah River 53d 56f Lake Michigan Moraines 50h Perkinstown End Moraines River Chippewa 46l East Guelph 56g Lansing Loamy Plain 46m 50i Northern Wisconsin Highlands 50af 51c Black 56h Interlobate Dead Ice Moraines Lakes Country 46k 51d 50ag Black River 50j Brule and Paint River Drumlins 46m Des 52c 57e 57 Huron/Erie Lake Plains 50k Wisconsin/Michigan Pine Barrens 44° Moines River 57a Maumee Lake Plain Root 52b 50l Menominee Drumlins and Ground Moraine 47c River Cass River 47a 57b Oak Openings River 56d Sarnia 50m Mesabi Range Pine River St. Thomas 57c Paulding Plains River 46n 52b 53c 50n Boundary Lakes and Hills 52c Muskegon 56g 57d Marblehead Drift/Limestone Plain 57a 50o Glacial Lakes Upham and Aitken 47b Grand 57e Saginaw Lake Plain 52c Madison Milwaukee Lansing 50p Toimi Drumlins 46k Kickapoo 53b 61 Erie Drift Plain 50q Itasca and St. Louis Moraines LAKE 83a Ecoregions denote areas of 47a general similarity in ecosystems and in the type, quality, and quantity of environmental River 56h ST. CLAIR L A K E Detroit 42° 61b Mosquito Creek/Pymatuning Lowlands 50r Chippewa Plains resources. They are designed to serve as a spatial framework for environmental resource management. This map depicts River revisions and subdivisions of ecoregions, compiled originally at a relatively small scale (U.S. EPA 2010, Omernik 1987). Platte Des 56h River 57b Windsor 61c 52a 54e MICHIGAN Huron 61c Low Lime Drift Plain 50s Nashwauk/Marcell Moraines and Uplands Compilation of this map, performed at the larger 1:250,000-scale, is part of several collaborative projects primarily between 53a 47c Plaines 56f River 61c 61b 61d Erie Gorges the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory 57b L A K E E R I E Grand River 50t North Shore Highlands Wapsipinicon River 52b (NHEERL), the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), U.S. EPA Region V, River 61e Summit Interlobate Area 50u Keweenaw-Baraga Moraines and state environmental resource agencies (Omernik et al. 2004, Woods et al. 2006, 1998). Collaboration and consultation 61b also occurred with other state and federal agencies, including the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Geological Survey, in an Saint 57b 61d River 56h 70 Western Allegheny Plateau 50v Winegar Dead Ice Moraine effort to obtain consensus regarding alignments of ecological regions. 57d Cleveland 54g 56b 70a Permian Hills 50w Michigamme Highland 72d 56d Toledo 83a The approach47k used to compile this map is based on the premise that ecological regions can be identified through the analysis 72d Chicago 57b 61c of the patterns and the composition of biotic and abiotic phenomena that affect or reflect differences in ecosystem quality Joseph 57b 61d 70b Monongahela Transition Zone 50x Grand Marais Lakeshore 42° and integrity. These phenomena include geology, physiography, vegetation, climate, soils, land use, wildlife, and 54f 54b River 57d Akron 70c Pittsburgh Low Plateau 50y Seney-Tahquamenon Sand Plain hydrology. The relative importance of each characteristic varies from one ecological region to another regardless of the 61c hierarchical level. Explanations of the methods used to define the ecoregions are given in Omernik (1995, 2000, 2004). 47m 72d Rock 56a 57a 70d Knobs-Lower Scioto Dissected Plateau 50z Rudyard Clay Plain 47f 72f 57c 61e 54d 61c Regional collaborative projects such as these state efforts, where the goal is to reach consensus among resource 72f 54c usky 70e Unglaciated Upper Muskingum Basin 50aa Menominee-Drummond Lakeshore River 61c management agencies, comprise a step toward reaching the objectives of the Memorandum of Understanding for 72f Illinois 54d 70c 70c developing a47j common framework of ecological47e regions (McMahon et al. 2001). A common spatial framework would allow 72d Sand 70f Ohio/Kentucky Carboniferous Plateau 50ab Cheboygan Lake Plain 27g 54d Eel River integrated ecosystem-type resource management across agencies having different responsibilities and interests for the sameSkunk River 56c 50ac Onaway Moraines geographic areas. Reaching that objective requires recognition of the differences in the conceptual approaches and mapping 54a 71 Interior Plateau River Scioto River 70b methodologies that have47h been used to develop the most commonly used existing ecoregion-type frameworks, including 70e 50ad Vanderbilt Moraines those developed by the U.S. Forest Service (Cleland et al. 2007), the U.S. EPA (Omernik 1987, 2010), and the NRCS (U.S. 55a 71a Crawford-Mammoth Cave Uplands Department of Agriculture-NRCS 2006). As each of these frameworks is further developed, the differences between them 47f Wabash 50ae Mio Plateau 72f 40° 71b Mitchell Plain Ohio River are decreasing. Collaborative projects at the state and regional level, where some agreement has been reached among River 54a 50af Cadillac Hummocky Moraines multiple resource management agencies, are a step toward attaining consensus and consistency in ecoregion frameworks for River 71c Knobs-Norman Upland the entire nation. Fox River 40a 72i

50ag Newaygo Barrens 54a River Columbus 71d Outer Bluegrass 27f North Fabius River Mackinaw 70b Comments or questions should be addressed to James Omernik, USGS, c/o U.S. EPA-NHEERL, 200 SW 35th Street, Spoon 55b 55c 50ah Tawas Lake Plain Corvallis, OR 97333, (541) 754-4458, email: [email protected], or to Glenn Griffith, Dynamac Inc., c/o U.S. EPA, River 71m Northern Shawnee Hills 200 SW 35th Street, Corvallis, OR 97333, (541) 754-4465, email: [email protected]. 54d 55e 71n Southern Shawnee Hills 51 North Central Hardwood Forests 55f Scioto 70a Literature Cited: 55b 70a 51a St. Croix Stagnation Moraines North River 72 Interior River Valleys and Hills 47d Indianapolis Miami 51b Central Wisconsin Undulating Till Plain Cleland, D.T., J.A Freeouf, J.E. Keys, Jr., G.J. Nowacki, C. Carpenter, and W.H. McNab. 2007. Ecological subregions: 72d 72a Wabash-Ohio Bottomlands 40° sections and subsections of the conterminous United States, Scale 1:3,500,000. A.M. Sloan, cartographer. General Technical Springfield

51c Glacial Lake Wisconsin Sand Plain Report WO-76. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Washington, D.C. Little 70f 72b Glaciated Wabash Lowlands Great 70d 72d 51d Central Sand Ridges River 70b 72c Green River-Southern Wabash Lowlands McMahon, G., S.M. Gregonis, S.W. Waltman, J.M. Omernik, T.D. Thorson, J.A. Freeouf, A.H. Rorick, and J.E. Keys. 2001. Cincinnati 55d Developing a spatial framework of common ecological regions for the conterminous United States. Environmental 72f 72m 72b 71d

51e Upper Wolf River Stagnation Moraine Wabash 72d Upper Mississippi Alluvial Plain Management 28(3):293-316. 71c 51f Green Bay Till and Lacustrine Plain 72i 55d River 72e Middle Mississippi Alluvial Plain Omernik, J.M. 1987. Ecoregions of the conterminous United States. Map Supplement (scale 1:7,500,000). Annals of the 40e 71d 51g Door Peninsula Association of American Geographers 77(1):118-125. 47f 71a 72f River Hills River Charleston Elk 51h Anoka Sand Plain and 72f River 72g Southern Ozarkian River Bluffs Omernik, J.M. 1995. Ecoregions: A spatial framework for environmental management.47f In: Biological Assessment and Kentucky White 71b Mississippi Valley Outwash Criteria: Tools for Water Resource Planning and Decision Making. W.S. Davis and T.P. Simon (eds.). Lewis Publishers, Boca 72a 71k 70h 69a 72i Western Dissected Illinoian Till Plain Raton, FL. pp. 49-62. River 38° 72j River 70d 51i Big Woods 72f 72e 71d Guyandotte River 72j Southern Illinoian Till Plain Omernik, J.M. 2004. Perspectives on the nature and definition of ecological regions. Environmental Management Saint Louis 51j Alexandria Moraines and 34(Supplement 1):s27-s38. 72m Louisville 72k Cretaceous Hills 40c 39k Patoka Detroit Lakes Outwash Plain 39e River Blue Frankfort Level III ecoregion 72l Karstic Northern Ozarkian River Bluffs Omernik, J.M., S.S. Chapman, R.A. Lillie, and R.T. Dumke. 2000. Ecoregions of Wisconsin. Transactions of the Wisconsin 72m Red River Level IV ecoregion 51k McGrath Till Plain and Drumlins Academy of Science, Arts and Letters 88(2000):77-103. 72c Kaskaskia County boundary 72m Wabash River Bluffs and Low Hills 72l 51l Wadena/Todd Drumlins and U.S. Department of Agriculture-Natural Resources Conservation Service. 2006. Land resource regions and major land State boundary 39d River 73 Mississippi Alluvial Plain Osakis Till Plain resource areas28a of the United States, the Caribbean, and the Pacific Basin. U.S. Department of Agriculture Handbook 296. 669p. Mississippi 72m International boundary and map. 40b 72a 71b 51m Manistee-Leelanau Shore Meramec 39g 39i 72a 73a Northern Holocene Meander Belts 38° 71c U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 2010. Level III Ecoregions of the Continental United States, Map M-1 (revision of 71m Green 51n Platte River Outwash Big River SCALE 1:2,500,000 Little River 83 Eastern Great Lakes Lowlands Omernik, 1987). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, River Corvallis, OR. 71m 0 50 100 200 KILOMETERS 40d 39f River 72c 83a Erie/Ontario Lake Plain 52 Driftless Area 72f River 72h Woods, A.J., J.M. Omernik, C.S. Brockman, T.D. Gerber, W.D. Hosteter, and S.H. Azevedo. 1998. Ecoregions of Indiana and 71n Black 71a 71g 52a Savanna Section Ohio (2 sided color poster with map, descriptive text, summary tables, and photographs). U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA. 71n 0 50 100 MILES 72g 72k Scale 1:1,500,000. 72a 52b Blufflands and Coulees 72a 72f 73a Little River 39h Ohio 52c Rochester/Paleozoic Plateau Upland Woods, A.J., J.M. Omernik, C.L. Pederson, and B.C Moran. 2006. Level III and IV39a Ecoregions of Illinois. U.S. EPA Report, 72a Albers Equal Area Projection EPA/600/R-06/104. U.S. Environmental29a Protection Agency, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, 47i 39j 74a Little Standard Parallels 29.5° N and 45.5° N Western Ecology Division, Corvallis, Oregon. 45p. River 73c 74a 71f River 73g 73a 74b 71e 36° 96° 94° 92° 90° 88° 86° 84° 82°