Wilderness Act

The 1964 United States law that created the National Wilderness Preservation System and established rules for designating and managing federal wilderness areas.

National Wilderness Preservation System: The network of federally designated wilderness areas established by the Wilderness Act. The Act created this system and set its governing framework.
Howard Zahniser: An American conservationist who drafted the Wilderness Act and led its legislative campaign. Zahniser shaped the bill through years of revisions and advocacy.
United States Forest Service: The federal agency that manages national forests and grasslands, including designated wilderness within them. It administers many wilderness areas under the Act’s requirements.
National Wilderness Preservation System acreage: The total area of land Congress has designated as part of the National Wilderness Preservation System. Its growth measures the scale of the Act’s lasting protection.
National monument (United States): A protected area designated by presidential proclamation or congressional statute under the Antiquities Act or other laws. Monuments can protect land without imposing the Wilderness Act’s specific use restrictions.
Wilderness designation: The legal process by which Congress adds federal land to the National Wilderness Preservation System. The Act’s protections apply to lands designated through this process.
Wilderness Society: A United States conservation organization founded in 1935 to protect wilderness and wild lands. Its members and leaders organized support for the Act.
National Park Service: The federal agency that manages national parks and other protected areas, including designated wilderness. The Act’s rules apply to wilderness units within national parks.
Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act: The 1980 United States law that created or expanded conservation areas across Alaska, including extensive wilderness. It made one of the largest additions to the system established by the Act.
National park: A protected area established by the United States government to conserve natural, cultural, or recreational resources. Park status and wilderness designation are distinct, though a park can contain wilderness.

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