Fast Facts
The Beginnings of the National Wilderness Preservation System
When the Wilderness Act was passed in 1964, 54 areas (9.1 million acres) in 13 states were designated as wilderness. This law established these areas as part of the National Wilderness Preservation System. Since 1964, the NWPS has grown almost every year and now includes 806 (2023) areas in 44 states and Puerto Rico. 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. 1984 marks the year when the most new wilderness areas were added.
Overall, however, only about 5% of the entire United States—an area slightly larger than the state of California— is protected as wilderness. Because Alaska contains just over half of America's wilderness, only about 2.7% of the contiguous United States—an area about the size of Minnesota—is protected as wilderness.
Think you know a lot about the NWPS? You can also test your knowledge by taking one of our quizzes.
Trivia at a Glance
Pelican Island Wilderness, northern Florida (5.5 acres)
Wrangell-Saint Elias Wilderness, Alaska (9,432,000 acres)
In this context, contiguous means wilderness land that is unbroken by any exempted corridors. In Alaska, the Noatak and Gates of the Arctic Wildernesses (about 13,000,000 acres) make up the largest area of unbroken wilderness. In the lower 48 states, the largest area of unbroken wilderness is found along the Sierra/Nevada crest in California. This area contains multiple wildernesses totaling over 2,400,000 acres.
California, Arizona, Nevada, Alaska, Oregon (2018)
Alaska, California, Arizona, Idaho, Washington (2018)
Yes. Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Rhode Island don't have any wilderness areas designated.
Forest Service
National Park Service
The three newest wilderness areas are the Clan Alpine Mountains (128,362 acres), the Desatoya Mountains (40,303 acres), and Cain Mountain (14,050 acres), designated on December 23, 2023 by the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023.
The Pacific Crest Trail passes through 48 wilderness areas including six that are named for famous conservationists.
The Continental Divide Trail passes through 24 wilderness areas including the Gila, the first wilderness area administratively designated in 1924, and near the Mission Mountains Tribal Wilderness, the first wilderness area designated by Indian Tribes, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of Montana.
The Appalachian Trail passes through 24 wilderness areas and borders another 4, including three designated in 1975 by the Eastern Wilderness Areas Act.
Learn more about how trails connect us to wilderness.
Wilderness Area Database
Information about all of the 806 (2023) wildernesses that make up the National Wilderness Preservation System is available in a searchable format. Use the practitioner's data search to find Wilderness areas by name, agency, state, size or year of enacting legislation.
Current acreages above are the sum of acreage measurements reported by each administrative unit for each wilderness. Data are updated annually. Read data disclaimer.