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Map by The Wilderness Society. Sources, acreages and spatial data available for download.

Bureau of Land Management (BLM)

Passed in 1976, the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) required the BLM to review and inventory lands under its stewardship to determine which areas had wilderness characteristics, as defined in the Wilderness Act (including being intact, undeveloped and “affected primarily by the forces of nature”). Identified “lands with wilderness characteristics” (LWCs) were documented and classified as “wilderness study areas” (WSAs), and those WSAs suitable for full wilderness protection were conveyed to Congress for consideration via the secretary of the interior and the president. Additionally, following these initial inventories, BLM continues to identify and inventory these lands as they periodically update  land-use planning processes). Congress has also occasionally taken action to designate wilderness study areas by legislation. 

WSAs are managed so as not to damage their criteria for someday being designated wilderness—a principle often referred to as “the non-impairment standard.” Some other places are managed as LWCs, which are tracked in an ongoing inventory). BLM has full discretion over how to manage a non-WSA area with wilderness characteristics, and can decide not to administratively protect its wilderness character over other values or uses. 

WILDERNESS PIPELINE: 

Lands with Wilderness Characteristics --> Wilderness Study Areas --> Wilderness Areas  

THREAT: 

The administration is inviting feedback and changes to parts of the BLM manual that concern management of wilderness, management of wilderness study areas and consideration of lands with wilderness characteristics in the planning process. This could open the door to more damaging activities on as much as 91 million acres of BLM lands. 

TOTAL BLM ACRES AFFECTED:

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)

Under the terms of the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997, each national wildlife refuge must produce a “comprehensive conservation plan” (CCP) and revise it as needed every 15 years, including soliciting local community input. As part of that planning process, FWS undertakes wilderness reviews to identify and recommend areas within each refuge that Congress should consider protecting legislatively.

Lands that meet the criteria become “wilderness study areas” (WSAs), then go through further analysis and a chain of references and endorsement before they get congressional consideration. A WSA whose final plan contains a recommendation for wilderness protection goes to the director of the FWS, who may then convey it to the secretary of the interior as “recommended wilderness.” If the secretary approves, the WSA then goes to the president as “proposed wilderness.” The president may then recommend the House and Senate protect it legislatively. WSAs that are so recommended for wilderness designation are managed to maintain their wilderness character in the meantime.

WILDERNESS PIPELINE:

Wilderness Study Areas --> Recommended Wilderness Areas --> Proposed Wilderness Areas --> Wilderness Areas

THREAT:

The administration is inviting feedback and changes to the part of the FWS service manual that concerns “wilderness stewardship.” This could mean changes to internal policies that govern both how the agency identifies lands deserving of wilderness designation and how they manage those lands while studying them. This could open the door to more damaging activities on as much as 35 million acres of FWS lands. 

TOTAL FWS ACRES AFFECTED:

National Park Service (NPS)

For National Park Service lands to be in preliminary consideration for wilderness protection—i.e. “eligible wilderness”-- they must have the characteristics laid out in the Wilderness Act (“untrammeled by humans,” possessing a “primeval character,” etc). Parks are required to make these assessments when they are first established or whenever there is a significant change to their management plan. Once an NPS eligible wilderness area has been identified, it is managed to preserve its wilderness character indefinitely.  

After NPS land has been deemed eligible, a more rigorous “wilderness study” follows, including a public input process. The results of the wilderness study may be used to submit a proposal from the NPS Director to the Secretary of the Interior; this is “proposed wilderness.” Once a proposed wilderness passes muster with the NPS Director, it moves on to the president as a “recommended wilderness.” The president may then send the recommendation to Congress for consideration to pass legislation protecting it. 

In some cases, the wilderness study yields a standby category of wildlands that could someday be designated as wilderness, if and when non-conforming uses have been eliminated (for example, a road that could eventually be removed). This is “potential wilderness.”  

WILDERNESS PIPELINE: 

Eligible Wilderness --> Wilderness Study Areas --> Proposed Wilderness Areas --> Recommended Wilderness Areas (and Potential Wilderness Areas) --> Wilderness Areas 

THREAT:  

The administration is inviting feedback and changes on an NPS “director’s order” that provides policy direction for identifying and managing wilderness areas. This could open the door to more damaging activities on as much as 70 million acres of NPS lands. 

TOTAL NPS ACRES AFFECTED: