The National Wilderness Preservation System includes wilderness areas in the United States designated by the Wilderness Act of 1964 and all subsequent wilderness laws. Today, more than 800 wilderness areas exist in 44 states and Puerto Rico encompassing more than 111 million acres. Through designation as wilderness, public lands that are federally owned by the Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Service, or National Park Service are given the highest level of protection available.
<p><span>Wilderness
areas are federally-owned public lands managed by the federal government
through four agencies, the </span>Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife
Service, Forest Service, and National Park Service. When the National Wilderness
Preservation System started in 1964, only 54 wilderness areas were included.
Since then, the system has grown nearly every year to include more than 800. The time component of this service is based on the year in which the wilderness was originally designated (additions may have occurred in subsequent years). Overall,
however, only about 5% of the entire United States—an area slightly larger than
the state of California— is protected as wilderness. Because Alaska contains
just over half of America's wilderness, only about 2.7% of the contiguous
United States—an area about the size of Minnesota—is protected as wilderness. To
learn more about wilderness areas, visit <a href='https://wilderness.net' rel='nofollow ugc' target='_blank'>Wilderness Connect</a>, the authoritative
source for wilderness information online. Wilderness Connect also publishes two other map resources:</p><p></p><ul><li>An <a href='https://umontana.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=a415bca07f0a4bee9f0e894b0db5c3b6' rel='nofollow ugc' target='_blank'>interactive wilderness map</a> allows visitors to search for and explore all wilderness areas in the United States. </li><li>Fact-filled <a href='https://wilderness.net/visit-wilderness/maps.php' rel='nofollow ugc' target='_blank'>storymaps on the benefits of wilderness</a> illustrate how wilderness protects values including clean water, wildlife habitat, nearby recreation, cultural sites and more.</li></ul><span></span><p></p>

<p>Although wilderness areas are federally-owned, some areas
contain non-federal parcels within their boundaries. Non-federal lands within
some wilderness areas are included as part of this feature dataset as a
separate layer. Termed inholdings or edgeholdings, these lands are
privately-owned or owned by local governments, state governments or Indigenous Nations. Hundreds of inholdings and edgeholdings exist across the wilderness
system. Generally, however, they are small compared to the size of the wilderness
itself. Since the rules and regulations that apply to wilderness areas do not
apply to these non-federally-owned parcels, it is important for wilderness
visitors to know their location to avoid trespassing where access is not
allowed. The owners of inholdings and edgeholdings can develop these parcels
(as long as developments do not affect the character of the surrounding
wilderness lands) and they retain special and limited access to them, sometimes, but not always, by motorized means.</p>
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