New map shows nearly 200 million acres of wilderness and wild public lands in Interior review's crosshairs
Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness Study Area, New Mexico
Mason Cummings (TWS)
Open-ended process could pave way to more development & extraction
WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 21, 2026) — A new map released by The Wilderness Society illustrates the enormous scope of the Department of the Interior's ongoing review of wilderness- and wildlands-related policies, showing that nearly 200 million acres of public lands could ultimately be affected.
Click to see full map (opens in new window)
Learn more about the wilderness and other wildlands included in the review
The Interior review solicits suggested changes to guidance governing wilderness areas, wilderness study areas and other lands managed for their wilderness character. The new map identifies lands that could fall within the scope of that review, including designated wilderness, wilderness study areas and lands with wilderness characteristics.
The review includes almost 9 million acres of lands within national monuments—an especially striking detail given President Trump's recent executive order virtually eliminating Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in Utah.
Abby Tinsley, senior vice president of conservation programs at The Wilderness Society, made the following statement about the map:
"Americans cherish public lands for wildlife habitat, clean water and the freedom they provide us to explore the great outdoors. This map shows just how much of that vital legacy could be affected by Interior's sweeping review of wilderness policies, which offers no guardrails and no indication of what comes next. The wilderness management guidance under review is what helps ensure that some of our nation's last remaining wild places retain the qualities that make them special; weakening those protections would open the door to more development, extraction and unchecked motorized use in places that Americans value for hiking, camping, hunting, fishing and quiet recreation.”
The review could affect:
- More than 91 million acres administered by the Bureau of Land Management.
- More than 70 million acres administered by the National Park Service.
- More than 35 million acres administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Sources, acreages and spatial data for download
The review is part of a larger pattern. The administration is also in the process of rescinding the U.S. Forest Service’s 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule; recently rolled back executive orders that laid the groundwork for rules guiding balanced and responsible motorized vehicle use on public lands, prelude to a repeal of the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management’s Travel Management Rules and regulations; and according to recent reporting from The New York Times, is planning a secretarial memorandum that would open the door for destructive development in more than 5 million acres of national forest that the U.S. Forest Service has recommended be designated as wilderness.
This administration is systematically attacking every administratively protected category of wildland, and the cumulative effect could be fewer safeguards for some of the country's most intact and undeveloped landscapes—and fewer places for future generations to roam.
Contact: newsmedia@tws.org / max_greenberg@tws.org
