Four federal agencies of the United States government administer the National Wilderness Preservation System, which includes 765 Wildernesses and 109,129,657 acres (441,632.05Â km2) as of 2016 . These agencies are:
- United States Forest Service
- United States National Park Service
- United States Bureau of Land Management
- United States Fish and Wildlife Service
This is an area larger than Iraq or the state of California. In Alaska, there are 57,425,569 acres (232,393.03Â km2) of wilderness. This represents about 52% of the wilderness area in the United States. The National Park Service (NPS) has oversight of 43,890,500 acres (177,619Â km2) of wilderness at 60 locations. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has responsibility for 20,702,350 acres (83,779.4Â km2) in 71 areas. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) oversees 8,726,011 acres (35,312.91Â km2) at 222 unique sites. The Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Forest Service oversees 36,160,078 acres (146,334.64Â km2) of wilderness areas in 442 areas. Some wilderness areas are managed by multiple agencies, so the above totals exceed the actual number of units (759) in the system. In addition, some of the 60 NPS areas with wilderness have multiple units designated as such (for example, Lake Mead National Recreation Area).
Some areas are designated wilderness by state or tribal governments. These are not governed by the Federal National Wilderness Preservation System.
The following sortable table lists all U.S. areas that have been designated by the United States Congress under the Wilderness Act. The listed designation date is the date that the wilderness was signed into law. Some areas have been expanded or otherwise changed since the original designation date. For more information about a specific area, see the wilderness name link.
See also
- Wilderness area
- List of largest wilderness areas in the United States
- List of U.S. National Forests
- National park
- List of U.S. National Parks
- United States National Monument
- List of miscellaneous U.S. public areas
- Intact forest landscape
External links
- U.S. Department of Interior webpage on public lands
- U.S. Bureau of Land Management webpage on wilderness areas
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service webpage on wilderness areas
- U.S. National Park Service webpage on wilderness areas
- U.S. Forest Service webpage on wilderness areas
- Wilderness.net's comprehensive website dedicated to wilderness areas in the United States
- Fall Branch, Citico Creek Wilderness, Monroe County, Tennessee. (with photos).areas in the United States
- Ventana Wilderness Alliance Dedicated to the preservation of Central California's Ventana and Silver Peak Wilderness Areas and adjacent public lands.
