EPA Ecoregions
Ecoregions of the conterminous United States from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): areas whose climate, geology, landforms, soils, vegetation, wildlife and water are alike, in four nested levels from the 10 broad Level I regions down to nearly a thousand Level IV regions. Good for describing the natural setting of a corridor or project area, framing environmental review and mitigation by landscape, and grouping counties, streams or habitat by the region they share.
- Published by
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development
- Source
- EPA Ecoregions (US Environmental Protection Agency)
- Terms of use
- Public domain (data produced by the U.S. EPA)
- On the map
- Areas
From the publisher
Ecoregions denote areas of general similarity in ecosystems and in the type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources. They are designed to serve as a spatial framework for the research, assessment, management, and monitoring of ecosystems and ecosystem components. These general purpose regions are critical for structuring and implementing ecosystem management strategies across federal agencies, state agencies, and nongovernment organizations that are responsible for different types of resources within the same geographical areas. The approach used to compile this map is based on the premise that ecological regions can be identified through the analysis of patterns of biotic and abiotic phenomena, including geology, physiography, vegetation, climate, soils, land use, wildlife, and hydrology. The relative importance of each characteristic varies from one ecological region to another. Level I is the coarsest level, dividing North America into 15 ecological regions. Level II divides the continent into 50 regions. At Level III, the continental United States contains 105 regions whereas the conterminous United States has 85. Level IV ecoregions are further subdivisions of Level III ecoregions.
Ecoregions were digitized at 1:250,000 scale and are intended for large geographic extents (i.e. states, multiple counties, or river basins). Use for smaller areas, such as individual counties or a 1:24,000 scale map boundary, is not recommended. Except for the Great Lakes, waterbodies were merged with surrounding ecoregion polygons, especially along coastlines. (Level IV Ecoregions of the Conterminous United States, U.S. EPA, April 2013.)
Ask your own question
Fields
What each record holds, as the publisher describes it: 13 fields.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
STATE_NAME | USPS code of the state this part of the region is in |
US_L4NAME | Name of the Level IV ecoregion |
US_L4CODE | Code of the Level IV ecoregion, such as 61c |
US_L3NAME | Name of the US Level III ecoregion it is in |
US_L3CODE | Code of the US Level III ecoregion, 1 to 85 |
NA_L3NAME | Name of the North American Level III ecoregion it is in |
NA_L3CODE | Code of the North American Level III ecoregion, such as 8.1.10 |
NA_L2NAME | Name of the North American Level II ecoregion it is in |
NA_L2CODE | Code of the Level II ecoregion, such as 8.1 |
NA_L1NAME | Name of the North American Level I ecoregion it is in |
NA_L1CODE | Code of the Level I ecoregion, such as 8 |
EPA_REGION | The EPA region (1 to 10) the state is in |
(computed) | Geodesic area of this row's shape, square metres |
More National data
- Census States · Census
- Annual Population Estimates by State, Age, Sex and Race · Census
- NAICS Industry Codes · NAICS
- BEA Regional Price Parities by State · BEA
- BEA Consumer Spending by State · BEA
- Metropolitan Planning Organizations · MPO
- AFDC Alternative Fuel Stations · AFDC
- AFDC EV Charging Ports · AFDC
- National Tunnel Inventory · NTI