List of ecoregions in Minnesota

Minnesota ecoregions map prepared by the United States Environmental Protection Agency

The list of ecoregions in Minnesota provides an overview to the ecoregions (see also, ecosystem) in the U.S. state of Minnesota,^[1] as defined by the Environmental Protection Agency/Commission for Environmental Cooperation, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, and the World Wildlife Fund.

Environmental Protection Agency/Commission for Environmental Cooperation^[2][3]

Level I	Level III	Level IV
9 – Great Plains 9.2 – Temperate Prairies	46 – Northern Glaciated Plains	46e – Tewaukon Big Stone Stagnation Moraine 46k – Prairie Coteau 46l – Prairie Coteau Escarpment 46m – Big Sioux Basin 46o – Minnesota River Prairie
	47 – Western Corn Belt Plains	47a – Loess Prairies 47b – Des Moines Lobe 47c – Eastern Iowa and Minnesota Drift Plains 47g – Lower St Crois and Vermillion Valleys
	48 – Lake Agassiz Plain	48a – Glacial Lake Agassiz Basin 48b – Beach Ridges and Sand Deltas 48d – Lake Agassiz Plains
5 – Northern Forests 5.2 – Mixed Wood Shield	49 – Northern Minnesota Wetlands	49a – Peatlands 49b – Forested Lake Plains
	50 – Northern Lakes and Forests	50a – Lake Superior Lacustrine Clay Plain 50b – Minnesota/Wisconsin Upland Till Plain 50m – Mesabi Range 50n – Boundary Lakes and Hills 50o – Glacial Lakes Upham and Aitken 50p – Toimi Drumlins 50q – Itasca and St Louis Moraines 50r – Chippewa Plains 50s – Nashwauk/Marcell Moraines and Uplands 50t – North Shore Highlands Subsection
8 – Eastern Temperate Forest 8.1 – Mixed Wood Plains	51 – North Central Hardwood Forests	51a – St Crois Outwash Plain and Stagnation Plains 51h – Anoka Sand Plain and Mississippi Valley 51i – Big Woods 51j – Alexandria Moraines and Detroit Lakes Outwash Plains 51k – McGraw Till Plain and Drumlins 51l – Wadena/Todd Drumlins and Osakis Till Plain
	52 – Driftless Area	52b – Blufflands and Coulees 52c – Rochester/Paleozoic Plateau Upland

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources divides the state of Minnesota into regions based on the agency's Ecological Classification System (ECS), which follows the guidelines set forth by the National Hierarchical Framework of Ecological Units. ^[4]

Provinces	Sections	Subsections
212 – Laurentian Mixed Forest Province	212J – Southern Superior Uplands	212Ja – Glacial Lake Superior Plain 212Jd – St. Croix Moraine
	212K – Western Superior Uplands	212Kb – Mille Lacs Uplands
	212L – Northern Superior Uplands	212La – Border Lakes 212Lb – North Shore Highlands 212Lc – Nashwauk Uplands 212Ld – Toimi Uplands 212Le – Laurentian Uplands
	212M – Northern Minnesota and Ontario Peatlands	212Ma – Littlefork-Vermillion Uplands 212Mb – Agassiz Lowlands
	212N – Northern Minnesota Drift and Lake Plains	212Na – Chippewa Plains 212Nb – St. Louis Moraines 212Nc – Pine Moraines and Outwash Plains 212Nd – Tamarack Lowlands
222 – Eastern Broadleaf Forest Province	222L – Paleozoic Plateau	222Lc – The Blufflands 222Lf – Rochester Plateau
	222M – Minnesota and Northeast Iowa Morainal	222Ma – Hardwood Hills 222Mb – Big Woods 222Mc – Anoka Sand Plain 222Md – St. Paul-Baldwin Plains 222Me – Oak Savanna
223 – Tallgrass Aspen Parkland Province	223N – Lake Agassiz, Aspen Parklands	223Na – Aspen Parklands
251 –Prairie Parkland Province	251A – Red River Valley	251Aa – Red River Prairie
	251B – North Central Glaciated Plains	251Ba – Minnesota River Prairie 251Bb – Coteau Moraines 251Bc – Inner Coteau

World Wildlife Fund

• Canadian aspen forests and parklands
• Central tall grasslands (consisting of parts of 251B (North Central Glaciated Plains) and 222M – Minnesota and Northeast Iowa Morainal) along with parts of 251C (Central Dissected Till plains) which are not in Minnesota.
• Northern tall grasslands
• Western Great Lakes forests
• Upper Midwest forest-savanna transition

References

1. "Interactive Map of Minnesota Level 4 Ecoregions". Retrieved 2010-11-17.
2. "Ecological Regions of North America" (pdf). Commission for Environmental Cooperation. 26 May 2006. Retrieved 26 March 2010.
3. "Minnesota Level III and IV Ecoregions" (pdf). United States Environmental Protection Agency. 11 May 2007. Retrieved 26 March 2010.
4. "Ecological Land Classification Hierarchy". Ecological Classification System. Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-11.