Visit Wilderness

Search for a wilderness as the destination for your next outdoor adventure.

Bob Marshall Wilderness Area, Minnesota

Why Visit Wilderness?

While wilderness can be appreciated from afar—through online content, television, or books—nothing compares to experiencing it firsthand. Activities like camping, hiking, or hunting allow you to fully enjoy the recreational, ecological, spiritual, and health benefits that wilderness areas offer. These areas provide “outstanding opportunities for solitude or a primitive and unconfined type of recreation,” chances to observe wildlife, moments to renew and refresh, and the physical benefits of outdoor exercise. In many wilderness areas, you can even bring your well-behaved dog.

Learn more about the diverse ways in which we benefit from wilderness and threats wilderness areas face today.

Applicable Wilderness Law(s)

Public Law 95-450

Date: October 11, 1978
Acreage: 70,000 acres

(No official title, designates Indian Peaks Wilderness) - Public law 95-450 (10/11/1978) To create the Indian Peaks Wilderness Area and the Arapaho National Recreation Area, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to study the feasibility of revising the boundaries of the Rocky Mountain National Park, and to add certain lands to the Oregon Islands Wilderness

For more information (To download or see all affected Wilderness areas) visit our law library for 95-450 or special provisions for 95-450 or legislative history for 95-450.

Public Law 96-560

Date: December 22, 1980
Acreage: 0 acres

Colorado Wilderness Act - Public Law 96-560 (12/22/1980) To designate certain National Forest System lands in the States of Colorado, South Dakota, Missouri, South Carolina, and Louisiana for inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System

For more information (To download or see all affected Wilderness areas) visit our law library for 96-560 or special provisions for 96-560 or legislative history for 96-560.

Public Law 107-216

Date: August 21, 2002
Acreage: 3,195 acres

James Peak Wilderness and Protection Area Act - Public law 107-216 (8/21/2002) To designate the James Peak Wilderness and Protection Area in the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests in the State of Colorado, and for other purposes

For more information (To download or see all affected Wilderness areas) visit our law library for 107-216 or special provisions for 107-216 or legislative history for 107-216.

Public Law 111-11

Date: March 30, 2009
Acreage: 1,000 acres

Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 - Public law 111-11 (3/30/2009) An act to designate certain land as components of the National Wilderness Preservation System, to authorize certain programs and activities in the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture, and for other purposes.

For more information (To download or see all affected Wilderness areas) visit our law library for 111-11 or special provisions for 111-11 or legislative history for 111-11.