The U.S. National Park Service preserves 58 national parks, 390 parks, historic sites, memorials, and recreation areas that attract nearly 300 million visitors every year. Our U.S. national parks are repositories of the nation’s biological diversity and contain some of the last ecosystem remnants that are found nowhere else in the world. Explore US Parks Online

Shenandoah National Park is a beautiful, historic national treasure which includes the 105-mile long Skyline Drive, a National Scenic Byway. The Park covers the crest of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains for over seventy-five miles. The Appalachian Trail roughly parallels the Skyline Drive and 101 miles of this trail run through the Park. (more…)

What is a wilderness area?

wilderness area is a region where the land is in a natural state; where impacts from human activities are minimal—that is, as a wilderness. It might also be called a wild or natural area.

What is a national wilderness area?

The National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) of the United States protects federally managed wilderness areas designated for preservation in their natural condition.

Activity on formally designated wilderness areas is coordinated by the National Wilderness Preservation System. Wilderness areas are managed by four federal land management agencies: the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Land Management.

The term “wilderness” is defined as “an area where the earth and community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain” and “an area of undeveloped Federal land retaining its primeval character and influence, without permanent improvements or human habitation, which is protected and managed so as to preserve its natural conditions.”

How are wilderness areas different from national parks?

Although these federally-managed, protected lands have a lot in common, there are important distinctions.Wilderness areas can be parts of national parks, wildlife refuges, national forests, and the public domain.

Wilderness areas were established in response to heightened concern about pollution in the 1950s and 1960s. The Wilderness Act was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.

What is the purpose of the Wilderness Act of 1964?

This act gave a legal definition of wilderness in the United States:

“A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.”

The passage of the Act established the National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) to protect the then 9 million acres of federal land officially recognized as U.S. wilderness. 

How many wilderness areas are in the United States?

Since 1964, the NWPS has grown almost every year and now includes 765 wilderness areas (109,138,635 acres) in 44 states and Puerto Rico. 

Which state has the most wilderness area?

About half of the total wilderness area in the United States is in the state of Alaska.

In 1980, the passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) added over 56 million acres of wilderness to the system, the largest addition in a single year.

What is the percentage of wilderness in North America?

The 109 million acres of Wilderness Areas in the United States are less than five percent (4.82%) of the total U.S. land base, and when you factor out Alaskan wilderness, it’s just two percent of the lower 48 states.

How much of the world’s land is wilderness?

Wilderness areas represent 46 percent of the Earth’s land surface, but are occupied by just 2.4 percent of the world’s population, excluding urban centers. Nine of the major wilderness areas fall, at least in part, within the United States.

Why is the wilderness important to humans?

Wilderness areas are important because they provide long-term protection to the last of our nation’s wild country, country that contains spectacular beauty, maintains spiritual values, supports native plants and animals often found nowhere else, and provides opportunity for primitive recreation.

What is not allowed in wilderness areas?

Recreational uses in wilderness include activities such as hunting, fishing, hiking, horseback riding, backpacking, camping, nature study, photography, and climbing. Bicycles, four-wheelers, and other forms of mechanical transport are not allowed in Wilderness Areas, since they are prohibited by the Wilderness Act.

Profiles of US Wilderness Areas A-Z

Subcategories

Article Index:

Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness

The United States Congress designated the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness in 1978 and it now has a total of 943,648 acres. Montana contains approximately 920,365 acres. Wyoming contains approximately 23,283 acres. The Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness is located in south central Montana, with a small portion in northern Wyoming, just north of Yellowstone National Park. The Wilderness is home to Montana’s tallest peak, the steep rocky mass known as Granite Peak.

Agassiz Wilderness Area

Agassiz Wilderness area is home to over 300 bird species and 70 animal species. This wilderness area is inside the Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge. Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge is located in northwest Minnesota in Marshall County.

Agua Tibia Wilderness

The Agua Tibia Wilderness is in Riverside and San Diego counties, California. It is mostly within the Palomar Ranger District of the Cleveland National Forest.

The steep, chaparral-covered mountains give way to stands of fir, pine, and oak at higher elevations that rise above 4,400 feet on Agua Tibia Mountain and above 5,000 feet on Eagle Crag. Untouched by wildfire for what may be more than a century, some of the dense stands of chaparral have manzanita and red shank reaching higher than 20 feet.

Apache Creek Wilderness
Aravaipa Canyon Wilderness
Black Fork Mountain Wilderness
Bridger Wilderness Area
Caribou-Speckled Mountain Wilderness
Cheaha Wilderness Area
Cloud Peak Wilderness Area
Dugger Mountain Wilderness Area
Encampment River Wilderness Area
Fitzpatrick Wilderness Area
Gros Ventre Wilderness
Huston Park Wilderness
Jedediah Smith Wilderness
Moosehorn Wilderness
North Absaroka Wilderness
Platte River Wilderness
Popo Agie Wilderness
Savage Run Wilderness
Shenandoah National Park
Sipsey Wilderness
Teton Wilderness
Washakie Wilderness
Winegar Hole Wilderness