Special Provisions
Use the Special Provisions Search Tool to explore legislated exceptions and unique management directives tied to specific wilderness areas. Special provisions—often called nonconforming uses—may authorize activities typically prohibited under the 1964 Wilderness Act. These provisions are written directly into wilderness laws and are legally binding.
Search by keyword, wilderness area, public law, or topic category to identify provisions that may affect how a particular wilderness is managed.
What are Special Provisions?
Special provisions are legislated exceptions to the Section 4(c) prohibitions of the 1964 Wilderness Act, which generally bans commercial enterprise, permanent roads, motor vehicles, motorized equipment, aircraft landings, mechanical transport, structures, and installations in designated wilderness.
Often referred to as nonconforming uses, special provisions are legal exceptions that allow otherwise prohibited activities when explicitly authorized by Congress. These provisions reflect unique circumstances or local needs that Congress considered during the designation process.
Section 4(d) of the Wilderness Act includes eight such special provisions. However, many more have been added through subsequent wilderness legislation. In their foundational analysis of these exceptions, Browning, Hendee, and Roggenbuck [¹] defined special provisions as:
“Specific guidelines for allocation and management based upon unique circumstances of local or regional concern.”
When included in wilderness legislation, special provisions become legally binding management directives that must be incorporated into stewardship decisions [²].
References
- Browning, J. A., Hendee, J. C. & Roggenbuck, J. W. (1988). 103 Wilderness Laws: Milestones and Management Direction in Wilderness Legislation, 1964–1987. Bulletin Number 51, College of Forestry, Wildlife and Range Sciences, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID.
- Hendee, J. C. & Dawson, C. P. (2002). Wilderness Management: Stewardship and Protection of Resources and Values (3rd ed.). Golden, CO: Fulcrum Publishing.
What is the Special Provisions Database?
The Special Provisions Database is a searchable collection of legislated exceptions and management directives excerpted from every public law that designates federal wilderness. These provisions are essential for understanding how wilderness areas may be managed differently based on unique legislative language.
To compile this database, the text of every wilderness law was reviewed to identify provisions that deviate from or add to the 1964 Wilderness Act. Because there’s no universal definition of a “special provision,” the database includes:
- All exceptions to Section 4(c) prohibitions
- Provisions that modify how a specific wilderness area is managed (e.g., boundary changes or unique use permissions), even if they are not formal exceptions
Each provision is categorized into primary and secondary topics. If a provision relates to multiple aspects of management—such as grazing, permit authority, and agency jurisdiction—it is tagged across all relevant categories. The excerpts often include adjacent language from the law for context.
Users can search for special provisions by:
- Keyword
- Wilderness law
- Wilderness area
- Provision category
It's important to note that provisions in the 1964 Wilderness Act apply to all designated wilderness areas, even if those areas were established by later laws.