wilderness timeline
1892
SIERRA
CLUB FOUNDED AND LED BY JOHN MUIR.
1920-1929
Aldo Leopold, Arthur Carhart and Robert Sterling Yard begin writing about a national wilderness preservation policy.
1970
The first Wilderness in the U.S., the Gila Wilderness in New Mexico, is established by the U.S. Forest Service.
1975
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) passes, requiring public involvement in land management planning and systematic evaluation of the environmental impacts of proposed projects.
Eastern Wilderness Areas Act passes, expanding Congress’ ability to designate Wilderness areas in the East and establishes 16 new Wilderness areas east of the Mississippi.
1929
Forest Service establishes “Primitive areas” within National Forests, “to maintain primitive conditions of transportation, subsistence, habitation, and environment…”
1978
Endangered American Wilderness Act signed by President Jimmy Carter adding 1.3 million acres of Wilderness to the system.
1930
Bob Marshall stated “Areas…should be set aside by an act of Congress. This would give them as close an approximation to permanence as could be realized in a world of shifting desires.”
More than 14 million acres of “Primitive areas” are established.
1980
Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act is signed by President Jimmy Carter, adding over 56 million acres to the National Wilderness Preservation System. This was the largest acreage addition in a single year.
Frank ChurchRiver of No Return Wilderness in Idaho becomes the largest Wilderness area in the contiguous United States.
A total of 758 Wilderness areas are part of the National Wilderness Preservation System.
6
Your National Forests
Photos © USDA Forest Service; CratersoftheMoonNPS / flickr.com; The Carter Center / cartercenter.org
Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona and Craters of the Moon Monument in Idaho are the first Wilderness areas designated within National Park boundaries.
1924