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Ecoregions of Ohio

To check where a specific point lies, you can look it up in our Ecoregion Locator.

↑Map Legend & Subregion List

This list will help you navigate the regions in case you have problems with viewing or clicking the interactive map above.

Name	†	Color on Map
Whitewater Interlobate Area	○
Pre-Wisconsinan Drift Plains	○
Marblehead Drift/Limestone Plain	○
Summit Interlobate Area	○
Monongahela Transition Zone	…
Pittsburgh Low Plateau	…
Knobs-Lower Scioto Dissected Plateau	○
Unglaciated Upper Muskingum Basin	○
Ohio/Kentucky Carboniferous Plateau	○
Erie/Ontario Lake Plain	✓
Clayey High Lime Till Plains	○
Loamy High Lime Till Plains	○
Maumee Lake Plain	✓
Mad River Interlobate Area	○
Darby Plains	○
Oak Openings	✓
Paulding Plains	○
Low Lime Drift Plain	✓
Erie Gorges	✓
Mosquito Creek/Pymatuning Lowlands	…
Carter Hills	○
Permian Hills	…
Outer Bluegrass	○

† Status: ✓ = Complete ○ = Needs Image … = Incomplete ∅ = Stub Only

↑Progress

↑About the Ecoregions of Ohio

Ohio is a roughly squarish state whose borders correspond poorly to geologic and ecological borders.

The entire state is located within the Eastern Temperate Forests, but it is split between four major subdivisions of this region. The northeast belongs to the Mixed Wood Plains, the most northerly portion of these forests, and a region that also includes coastal New England and explains the similarity of northeast Ohio to New England. This region was glaciated, but is less agriculturally fertile than the west of the state. The southeastern part of the state belongs to the Appalachians, more specifically, the Western Allegheny Plateau, and is hilly. Most of the western part of the state belongs to the Central USA Plains, an extremely flat and agriculturally fertile region that marks the transition between forests and the great plains. The far southwest of the state belongs to the Southeastern USA Plains, a region that extends much farther south and may explain why people say this part of Ohio feels like the south.

The southern limit of glaciation also cuts across Ohio, and although more of the state was glaciated than not, the southernmost portions of the state, and southeastern Ohio were unglaciated.

↑References

1. Woods, A.J, Omernik, J.M., Brockman, C.S., Gerber, T.D., Hosteter, W.D., Azevedo, S.H. "Ecoregions of Indiana and Ohio (Poster)", US Geological Survey (1998) Web.