The National Wilderness Preservation System of the United States protects federally managed wilderness areas designated for preservation in their natural condition. Activity on formally designated wil
The Wilderness Act protects exceptionally undisturbed natural areas and scenery, such as in the Ansel Adams Wilderness.
Acres of wilderness added by year
High Schells Wilderness, Nevada
Wilderness boundary marker in Idaho
Wilderness Act
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The Wilderness Act of 1964 is a federal land management statute meant to protect federal wilderness and to create a formal mechanism for designating wilderness. It was written by Howard Zahniser of Th
National Wilderness Preservation System
…created the first draft of the Wilderness Act in 1956. It took nine years and 65 rewrites before the Wilderness Act was finally passed in 1964. The Wilderness Act of 1964 (Public Law 88-577), which established the NWPS, was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on September 3, 1964. The Wilderness Act mandated…
President Lyndon Johnson signs the Wilderness Act of 1964 in the White House Rose Garden. Also pictured are Interior Secretary Stewart Udall, Senator Frank Church, Mardy Murie, Alice Zahniser, and Representative Wayne Aspinall, among others.
Founding Members, Wilderness Society at Old Rag Mountain, VA in 1946. From left to right: Harvey Broome, Benston MacKaye, Aldo Leopold, Olaus Murie, Irving Clark, George Marshall, Laurette Collier, Howard Zahniser, Ernest Oberholtzer, Harold Anderson, Charles Woodbury, Robert Griggs, Ernest Griffith, and Bernard Frank.
The goal of Wilderness50 is to raise awareness of wilderness during the celebration of its 50th anniversary.
LBJ Official January 1969 Portrait