Fish & Wildlife Service Agency Resources

Law

• Wilderness Act
• Other laws

Policy

• Fish and Wildlife Service Wilderness Policy
• Fish and Wildlife Service Wilderness Designation Process

Wilderness Management Topics

Fundamentals of Wilderness Management

Training

• Classroom
• Online
• Webinars
• Technical Core Competencies
• Informational Videos
  • FWS Know Your Mission -The Wilderness Act of 1964 Micro-Learning Video 
  • 2022 National Wilderness Skills Institute Session by Michelle Reilly, USFWS Wilderness Liaison 
    • "The Women in Our Wilderness History" presentation Timestamp 1:10 - 34:14
    • "Through the (Historical) Looking Glass: Backward-Looking  Criticism vs Forward-thinking Interpretation" Timestamp 34:15-1:17:42.
  • Wilderness Character

Wilderness Information and Resources

• USFWS Refuge Wilderness Homepage
• Designated Wilderness: An area designated in legislation and administered as part of the NWPS and in accordance with the Wilderness Act.
• Proposed Wildernesses: An area of the Refuge System that the Secretary of the Interior has recommended to the President for inclusion in the NWPS. Proposed wilderness is managed as designated wilderness.
• FWS Wilderness Boundary Map Data 
• Annual Report of Lands Under Control of the USFWS (See table 8 for designated Wilderness)
• ServCat (searchable for CCP’s, MRA’s, WSP’s, and WCM Reports)
• Leader’s Intent for the NWRS Wilderness Stewardship Program
  • Charter for the National Wilderness Leadership Council of the NWRS
    • "A Landscape Scale Approach to Refuge System Planning" (see pg 20)
• International Journal of Wilderness
  • Beyond Secretaries, Hostesses, and Cooks: The Power, Humility, and Compassion of Women Who Battled to Save Wilderness" by FWS Wilderness Liaison, Michelle Reilly
• Spring 2024 FWS News (fws.gov)
  • Wilderness Firsts (page 32) by Michelle Reilly (fws.gov PDF)

Wilderness Character Monitoring

• Survey Protocol Framework for Monitoring Wilderness Character on the National Wildlife Refuges
• The WCM Database: A Guide for Data Entry Users
• “Keeping it Wild 2”

Agency Contacts

• Michelle Reilly - USFWS Representative; Arthur Carhart National Wilderness Training Center
• Regional Wilderness Coordinators contact list
• Currently Vacant - NWRS National Wilderness Coordinator

Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act

• Designated Wilderness Map
• Refuge System Wilderness Heroes
• NCTC’s Conservation Connect episode highlighting Wilderness

Media (searchable for wilderness articles and information)

• Fish and Wildlife News
• Open Space Blog
• Refuge Updates
• F&W Field Notes
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Youtube