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Ecosystems

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The Drought.gov team reformats data from multiple partners into web- and GIS-ready formats, which we use throughout Drought.gov. These data, hosted on Google Cloud Storage, are free for all to download or reference directly from their web applications.

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Maps
Dataset Name

Forest Ecoregions in Drought

Update Schedule
USDM Updates Weekly
Last Update
07/22/25

Ecoregion extents for forests were extracted from Level I Ecoregions of North America provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM) data from the National Drought Mitigation Center were available in a GIS format. USDM data are updated weekly on Thursdays. Access USDM GIS data.

Source(s)
Update Schedule

The U.S. Drought Monitor map is updated weekly on Thursday mornings, with data valid through that Tuesday at 7 am Eastern.

Dataset Name

Prairie Ecoregions in Drought

Update Schedule
USDM Updates Weekly
Last Update
07/22/25

Ecoregion extents for prairies were extracted from Level I Ecoregions of North America provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM) data from the National Drought Mitigation Center were available in a GIS format. USDM data are updated weekly on Thursdays. Access USDM GIS data.

Source(s)
Update Schedule

The U.S. Drought Monitor map is updated weekly on Thursday mornings, with data valid through that Tuesday at 7 am Eastern.

Dataset Name

Desert Ecoregions in Drought

Update Schedule
USDM Updates Weekly
Last Update
07/22/25

Ecoregion extents for deserts were extracted from Level I Ecoregions of North America provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM) data from the National Drought Mitigation Center were available in a GIS format. USDM data are updated weekly on Thursdays. Access USDM GIS data.

Source(s)
Update Schedule

The U.S. Drought Monitor map is updated weekly on Thursday mornings, with data valid through that Tuesday at 7 am Eastern.

Dataset Name

Mediterranean Ecoregions in Drought

Update Schedule
USDM Updates Weekly
Last Update
07/22/25

Ecoregion extents for mediterranean areas were extracted from Level I Ecoregions of North America provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM) data from the National Drought Mitigation Center were available in a GIS format. USDM data are updated weekly on Thursdays. Access USDM GIS data.

Source(s)
Update Schedule

The U.S. Drought Monitor map is updated weekly on Thursday mornings, with data valid through that Tuesday at 7 am Eastern.

Stats
Dataset Name

Active Large Wildfires

Update Schedule
Updates Daily
Last Update
12/05/24

Active large wildfires were ingested from the National Interagency Fire Center (NFIC) FTP server.

Source(s)
Dataset Name

Flood Events

Update Schedule
Updates Monthly
Last Update
04/15/22

Statistics on flood events were ingested from NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information's (NCEI's) Storm Events database.

Source(s)
Dataset Name

Forests in Severe Drought

Update Schedule
Updates Weekly
Last Update
07/24/25

Ecoregion extents for forests were extracted from Level I Ecoregions of North America provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). GIS was used to identify the number of forest acres in drought using data released weekly by the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Source(s)
Dataset Name

Prairies in Severe Drought

Update Schedule
Updates Weekly
Last Update
07/24/25

Ecoregion extents for prairies were extracted from Level I Ecoregions of North America provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). GIS was used to identify the number of prairie acres in drought using data released weekly by the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Source(s)