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Advanced Wilderness Search

Enter your search criteria below. You can also use the A-to-Z wilderness list, search by location on a map, or search by name or state. For aggregated tables of wilderness data, view the wilderness summary reports.

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Wilderness Search Results

View your search results displayed below or try a new search. You can also search by map to find wilderness areas. For an aggregated view of wilderness data view the wilderness summary reports.

Click on a wilderness name to learn more about the area. Click on the toggle arrows to sort the results on that column in ascending/descending order. You can also share this search result.

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NAME
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AGENCY
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STATE
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UNIT ACRES
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TOTAL ACRES
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YEAR
Apache Creek WildernessFSAZ5,6335,6331984
Aravaipa Canyon WildernessBLMAZ19,41019,4101984
Arrastra Mountain WildernessBLMAZ129,800129,8001990
Aubrey Peak WildernessBLMAZ15,40015,4001990
Baboquivari Peak WildernessBLMAZ2,0402,0401990
Bear Wallow WildernessFSAZ11,23511,2351984
Beaver Dam Mountains WildernessBLMAZ15,00018,6671984
Big Horn Mountains WildernessBLMAZ21,00021,0001990
Cabeza Prieta WildernessFWSAZ803,418803,4181990
Castle Creek WildernessFSAZ25,45725,4571984
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Wilderness Search Summary

Wilderness Areas Found:
90
Unit Acreage Sum:
4,512,055
Total Acreage Sum:
4,546,169
  1. Footnote for Agency and State or Region.A wilderness area can exists in more than one state or region and/or is managed by more than one agency. In these cases, if unit or regional acreages and total acreages are shown, they will differ and, depending on the sort criteria selected, units of the same wilderness may not be listed or may not be listed consecutively. See footnote 2 below. Year may also differ. See footnote 3 below. Press enter to return to previous content.
  2. Footnote for Acreage Operator. Total acreage is the current acreage of the entire wilderness. This measurement will include all acres of a wilderness, regardless of any state, agency, region or year selections you make. Unit acreage is wilderness acreage existing in a single state managed by a single agency. Unit acreage should not be confused with administrative unit acreage, a further breakdown of acreage that differs by agency. Regional acreage, if shown, is wilderness acreage found within the Fish and Wildlife Service or Forest Service region selected. Since almost 25% of wilderness areas have acreage designated under multiple laws, search the wilderness law library, see footnote 4 below for link, by wilderness, year or public law for a breakdown of how a wilderness area has grown over time. Press enter to return to previous content.
  3. Footnote for Designation Year. Designation indicates the year that a wilderness was designated by Congress. For multi-managed wilderness areas, this represents the year in which each agency started managing the area, and may be different depending on the agency. For example, the Domeland Wilderness was originally designated in 1964, but at that time was managed only by the Forest Service. The Bureau of Land Management did not begin managing the area until its acreage was added in 1994. Similarly, for wilderness areas with acreage in more than one state, this represents the year the acreage was first designated in that state. For example, while the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness was originally designated in 1978 in Montana, its Wyoming portion did not come into existence until 1984. Press enter to return to previous content.
  4. Search the wilderness law library

Exploring Wilderness Data

The Federal laws that established individual wilderness unit, beginning with the Wilderness Act of 1964 and including all subsequent wilderness legislation, are the legally correct source for the wilderness names, locations, original acreage, and dates of designation. Wilderness Connect's National Wilderness Preservation System database, searchable using the form above, began with the following publication, which compiled the legislated acres for all designated wilderness areas: Landres, Peter; Meyer, Shannon. 2000. National Wilderness Preservation System database: key attributes and trends, 1964 through 1999. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-18-Revised Edition. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 97 p. Download this publication. Current reported acreage figures are the sum of administrative unit acreages reported by each wilderness' managing agency or agencies through annual realty reports.

The most recent data updates include:

  • 2/5/20: 22,877 acre Kootznoowoo Wilderness inholding added (only last 4,766 added on this date; the remainder was already included in annual updates between 2016 and 2020)
  • 2/12/20: Multiple acreages updated for NPS wildernesses to be consistent with 2018 National Wilderness Report (significant changes mainly to Alaska wildernesses)
  • 6/2/20: Multiple acreages updated for BLM wildernesses to be consistent with second quarter NLCS acreages
  • 7/19/21: 9,617 acre Sabinoso Wilderness donation added
  • 1/12/22: Multiple acreages updated for BLM, FWS, FS, NPS wildernesses to be consistent with current agency acreage figures