This 1964 law created the National Wilderness Preservation System, which protects nearly 110 million acres of wilderness areas in states throughout the nation.
A Quick History
Today, the Wilderness Act is considered one of America’s greatest conservation achievements.
Former Wilderness Society Executive Director Howard Zahniser drafted the bill in 1956 to protect some of the nation's remaining wilderness. After eight years and 66 revisions, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Wilderness Act into law on Sept. 3, 1964.
Sadly Zahniser died four months earlier. He was not able to see his dream signed into action, but the legacy he left will be enjoyed by Americans for generations to come.
This video from the National Park Service showcases the landscapes and ideas that the Wilderness Act protects:
The Wilderness Act:
- Created a way for Congress to protect pristine wildlands by designating them as protected wilderness
- Created the National Wilderness Preservation System, which manages the nation’s protected wilderness areas
- Immediately put 9.1 million acres of wild American lands into the National Wilderness Preservation System, protecting them as designated wilderness
National Wilderness Preservation System
The system was created to contain lands owned by the American people. These lands are managed for citizens to use and enjoy in ways that protect them for future use as wilderness.
Wilderness timeline
Protections for America’s wilderness date back to the creation, in 1872, of the country’s first national park — Yellowstone National Park. The Wilderness Society was instrumental in the greatest recent achievement, the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009. This added more than 2 million acres of wilderness to the wilderness system, including places like Idaho’s Owyhee Canyonlands and parts of Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park. We are working toward more wilderness achievements with the current Congress.
The Wilderness Handbook
To mark the 40th anniversary of the Wilderness Act, The Wilderness Society decided to create “cliff notes” for the Act. The Wilderness Act Handbook is a reference manual for those working to protect America’s last remaining wild places.
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