page_title: List of ecoregions in the United States (EPA)
section_title: North American Deserts
hierarchical_section_title: List of ecoregions in the United States (EPA) / Ecoregions in the United States / North American Deserts
caption_attribution_description: English: Level III ecoregions in Arizona and New Mexico, as defined by the U.S. Environmental Protections Agency
context_page_description: This list of ecoregions in the United States provides an overview of United States ecoregions designated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Commission for Environmental Cooperation. The CEC was established in 1994 by the member states of Canada, Mexico, and the United States to address regional environmental concerns under the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation, the environmental side accord to the North American Free Trade Agreement. The Commission's 1997 report, Ecological Regions of North America, provides a framework that may be used by government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and academic researchers as a basis for risk analysis, resource management, and environmental study of the continent's ecosystems. In the United States, the EPA and the United States Geological Survey are the principal federal agencies working with the CEC to define and map ecoregions. Ecoregions may be identified by similarities in geology, physiography, vegetation, climate, soils, land use, wildlife distributions, and hydrology.
  The classification system has four levels, but only Levels I and III are shown on this list.
context_section_description: 10 Columbia Plateau
  12 Snake River Plain
  13 Central Basin and Range
  14 Mojave Basin and Range
  18 Wyoming Basin
  20 Colorado Plateaus
  22 Arizona/New Mexico Plateau
  24 Chihuahuan Deserts
  80 Northern Basin and Range
  81 Sonoran Basin and Range
caption: Some of the deserts and plains
exif: {}