A parcel of Forest Service land congressionally designated as wilderness such as National Wilderness Area. Click this link for full metadata description: Metadata

Wilderness areas are federally-owned public lands managed by the federal government through four agencies, the 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 Wilderness Connect, the authoritative source for wilderness information online. Wilderness Connect also publishes two other map resources:An interactive wilderness map allows visitors to search for and explore all wilderness areas in the United States. Fact-filled storymaps on the benefits of wilderness illustrate how wilderness protects values including clean water, wildlife habitat, nearby recreation, cultural sites and more.

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.

A map service depicting parcels of Forest Service land congressionally designated as wilderness such as National Wilderness Areas. This map service provides display, identification, and analysis tools for determining current boundary information for Forest Service managers, GIS Specialists, and others. The map service uses a File Geodatabase data source with Web Mercator projection.�Metadata and Downloads

This data set consists of National Wilderness Preservation System areas around Jackson County. The data set was created by extracting these wilderness areas from the National Atlas map layer: Federal Lands and Indian Reservations of the United States. This is a revised version of the October, 2003 data set.

(Link to Metadata) A parcel of Forest Service land congressionally designated as wilderness such as National Wilderness Area.

This map layer consists of National Wilderness Preservation System areas of 640 acres or more, in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The map layer was created by extracting these wilderness areas from the National Atlas map layer: Federal Lands of the United States. This is a replacement for the December 2005 map layer.

Note: This map service contains generalized NFS Land Unit boundaries to help with map service performance. Data in this service is not as accurate as the Automated Lands Program published data and will not accurately represent the boundary.National Forest System Land Unit original accurate data can be downloaded from here.An NFS Land Unit is nationally significant classification of Federally owned forest, range, and related lands that are administered by the USDA Forest Service or designated for administration through the Forest Service. NFS Land Unit types include proclaimed national forest, purchase unit, national grassland, land utilization project, research and experimental area, national preserve, and other land area. Each NFS Land Unit is identified by a National Forest Fiscal Identifier (NFFID) code, a unique 4-digit number that is used for accounting purposes.

This data represents BLM and USFS wilderness areas of Utah. Wilderness areas from the BLM National Lands Conservation System (NLCS) were merged with U.S. Forest Service wilderness areas in the National Wilderness Preservation System, preserving the polygon geometry and the name attributes only. The complete BLM and USFS data can be found at:https://www.blm.gov/services/geospatial/GISData/utahhttps://data-usfs.hub.arcgis.com/datasets/national-wilderness-areas-feature-layer

This data layer consists of National Wilderness Preservation System areas in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The map layer was created by combining the best available data from the federal agency responsible for administration of a given wilderness area. Where larger scale data could not be obtained the National Atlas layer 'National Wilderness Preservation System 'was used as the data source. In its present form source data varies from a scale of 1:10000 to 1:2,000,000 (see lineage for details on source scale).

Abstract: This map layer consists of National Wilderness Preservation System areas of 640 acres or more, in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The map layer was created by extracting these wilderness areas from the National Atlas map layer: Federal Lands of the United States. This is a replacement for the December 2004, map layer. Purpose: These data are intended for geographic display and analysis at the national level, and for large regional areas. The data should be displayed and analyzed at scales appropriate for 1:2,000,000-scale data. No responsibility is assumed by the National Atlas of the United States in the use of these data.

A wilderness is a legally protected, biologically intact place where natural biodiversity exists, and a government, or other entity, prevents people from building. In the United States, these areas are protected by the Wilderness Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 1964. This act defines wilderness as an area with, “outstanding opportunities for solitude or a primitive and unconfined type of recreation.” The act created wilderness areas within other federal lands such as national parks and forests. It prohibits the use of motorized equipment (e.g., snowmobiles, four wheelers, dirt bikes) in these places, and those found in violation of this law can receive a fine of $500 U.S. dollars or six months in jail. Since the Wilderness Act passed, the U.S. Congress has passed more than 100 additional laws classifying new areas as wilderness or strengthening protections for these places.The government of the United States has legally protected more than 800 wilderness areas totaling nearly 452,799 square kilometers (174,826 square miles). The smallest wilderness area is Pelican Island Wilderness in the state of Florida. It is approximately 0.022 square-kilometers (0.009 square miles). The largest wilderness, by comparison, is Wrangell-Saint Elias Wilderness in the state of Alaska which is about 38,170 square kilometers (14,738 square miles).Wilderness places have numerous benefits. They protect and provide habitats for a large variety of species, maintain clean sources of water and air, allow for the scientific study of places with limited interference from people, preserve unique geologic formations, and allow for recreation for the public. Many small towns near wilderness areas see an increase in economic opportunities as people visit and enjoy these spaces. They also often protect places of cultural significance such as the petroglyphs and pictographs of early civilizations, sacred indigenous sites, and remnants of the colonization of North America by European settlers. Despite their clear value to society, wilderness places are experiencing a variety of threats including climate change, fire, invasive species, overuse, pollution, technology, and a general lack of awareness from the public. This map layer was created by Wilderness Connect, a partnership between the Wilderness Institute at the University of Montana, the Arthur Carhart National Wilderness Training Center, and the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute. It includes federal wilderness areas categorized by the managing federal agency. Explore the map and find the wilderness area closest to you.

You can help protect wilderness areas by raising awareness about them and the issues threatening their well-being. When you visit a wilderness area practice Leave No Trace and consider contacting the land manager so see about volunteering while you are there. Finally, explore ways you can reduce your environmental impact from home to reduce global threats such as climate change.

The map layer Wilderness Areas North Rhine-Westphalia covers the wilderness development areas in the state forest of North Rhine-Westphalia, which have been designated in North Rhine-Westphalia since 2011. These beech and oak old wood stocks were determined by the State Office for Nature, Environment and Consumer Protection (LANUV NRW) and the State Forest and Wood Plant NRW on the basis of a technically derived concept. Forestry is no longer used in the wilderness development areas and natural developments are permitted. In this way, international and national requirements are met and a contribution is made to increasing biodiversity. The service includes a good 300 individual areas – so-called wilderness biotopes – which are spread over around 100 wilderness development areas, usually FFH and/or nature reserves. In total, about 7,800 hectares of state forest will be taken out of forestry use. In addition, other unused forest areas such as the process protection zone of the Eifel National Park and two larger areas taken out of use by a private nature conservation association or a private forest owner are listed in the map layer.

An area encompassing all the National Forest System lands administered by an administrative unit. The area encompasses private lands, other governmental agency lands, and may contain National Forest System lands within the proclaimed boundaries of another administrative unit. All National Forest System lands fall within one and only one Administrative Forest Area.Downloads available: https://data.fs.usda.gov/geodata/edw/datasets.php?xmlKeyword=Administrative+Forest+Boundaries

Feature Class for the BLM Wilderness Areas and BLM Other Related Lands data covered by the National Landscape Conservation System (NLCS) Data Standard. In particular, this feature class includes the polygon features representing the spatial extent and boundaries of the BLM National Landscape Conservation System (NLCS) Wilderness Areas. A Wilderness is a special place where the earth and its community of life are essentially undisturbed; they retain a primeval character, without permanent improvements and generally appear to have been affected primarily by the forces of nature. In 1964, Congress established the National Wilderness Preservation System and designated the first Wilderness Areas in passing the Wilderness Act. The uniquely American idea of wilderness has become an increasingly significant tool to ensure long-term protection of natural landscapes. Wilderness protects the habitat of numerous wildlife species and serves as a biodiversity bank for many species of plants and animals. Wilderness is also a source of clean water.

The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 directed the Bureau to inventory and study its roadless areas for wilderness characteristics. To be designated as a Wilderness Study Area, an area has to have the following characteristics: Size - roadless areas of at least 5,000 acres of public lands or of a manageable size; Naturalness - generally appears to have been affected primarily by the forces of nature; Opportunities - provides outstanding opportunities for solitude or primitive and unconfined types of recreation. In addition, Wilderness Study Areas often have special qualities such as ecological, geological, educational, historical, scientific and scenic values.

BLM National Landscape Conservation System (NLCS) Other Related Lands are lands not in Wilderness or Wilderness Study Areas that have been determined to have wilderness character through inventory or land use planning. These lands fall into one of two categories. The first category are lands with "wilderness value and characteristics". These are inventoried areas not in Wilderness or Wilderness Study Areas that have been determined to meet the size, naturalness, and the outstanding solitude and/or the outstanding primitive and unconfined recreation criteria. The second category are "wilderness characteristic protection areas". These are former lands with "wilderness value and characteristics" where a plan decision has been made to protect them.

This dataset is a subset of the official national dataset, containing features and attributes intended for public release and has been optimized for online map service performance. The Implementation Guide represents the official national dataset from which this dataset was derived.

description: (Link to Metadata) This dataset includes National Recreation Areas (NRAs) designated by Congress on the Green Mountain National Forest (GMNF) as of 2006. There are two areas, Moosalamoo and the Robert T. Stafford White Rocks (aka White Rocks) NRAs. The White Rocks NRA has overlap with the Big Branch and Peru Peak Wilderness Areas. For the purposes of land management (according to the Land and Resource Management Plan of 2006 for the GMNF), the Wilderness standards and guidelines will take precedence over NRA standards and guidelines where there is overlap. The Moosalamoo NRA overlaps several underlying Forest Plan Management Areas which provide specific management guidelines.; abstract: (Link to Metadata) This dataset includes National Recreation Areas (NRAs) designated by Congress on the Green Mountain National Forest (GMNF) as of 2006. There are two areas, Moosalamoo and the Robert T. Stafford White Rocks (aka White Rocks) NRAs. The White Rocks NRA has overlap with the Big Branch and Peru Peak Wilderness Areas. For the purposes of land management (according to the Land and Resource Management Plan of 2006 for the GMNF), the Wilderness standards and guidelines will take precedence over NRA standards and guidelines where there is overlap. The Moosalamoo NRA overlaps several underlying Forest Plan Management Areas which provide specific management guidelines.

The NRW wilderness areas map layer includes the wilderness development areas in the state forest of North Rhine-Westphalia that have been designated in North Rhine-Westphalia since 2011. These old beech and oak wood stocks were determined by the State Agency for Nature, Environment and Consumer Protection (LANUV NRW) and the State Office for Forest and Wood NRW on the basis of a professionally derived concept. Forest use no longer takes place in the wilderness development areas, and natural developments are permitted. In this way, international and national requirements are met and a contribution is made to increasing biodiversity. The service includes a good 300 individual areas - so-called wilderness biotopes, which are spread over around 100 wilderness development areas - usually FFH and/or nature reserves. A total of around 7,800 hectares of state forest will be taken out of forest use. In addition, other unused forest areas such as the process protection zone of the Eifel National Park and two larger areas taken out of use by a private nature conservation association or a private forest owner are listed in the map layer.

This dataset includes the polygon features representing the spatial extent and boundaries of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) National Landscape Conservation System (NLCS) Wilderness Areas (WLD), Wilderness Study Areas (WSA), and Other Related Lands with wilderness characteristics (LWC) or managed for wilderness characteristics (MWC).The data standard for these boundaries will assist in the management of all eleven designations within the NLCS. Particularly, NLCS data pertains to the following BLM groups and their purposes: Land Use Planners, GIS Specialists, NLCS team leads, BLM managers, and public stakeholder groups.As early as 1926, the earliest advocates of wilderness preservation had acknowledged the beauty and important ecological values of the desert lands under the BLM’s administration as candidates for wilderness protection. In 1964, Congress established the National Wilderness Preservation System and designated the first Wilderness Areas in passing the Wilderness Act. The uniquely American idea of wilderness has become an increasingly significant tool to ensure long-term protection of natural landscapes. Wilderness protects the habitat of numerous wildlife species and serves as a biodiversity bank for many species of plants and animals. Wilderness is also a source of clean water.The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 directed the BLM to inventory and study its roadless areas for wilderness characteristics. Here identified areas became WSAs. The establishment of a WSA served to identify areas for Congress to consider for addition to the National Wilderness Preservation System. To be designated as a WSA, an area must have the following characteristics: Size - roadless areas of at least 5,000 acres of public lands or of a manageable size; Naturalness - generally appears to have been affected primarily by the forces of nature; Opportunities - provides outstanding opportunities for solitude or primitive and unconfined types of recreation. In addition, WSAs often have special qualities such as ecological, geological, educational, historical, scientific and scenic values.In June 2000, the BLM responded to growing concern over the loss of open space by creating the NLCS. The NLCS brings into a single system some of the BLM's premier designations. The Wilderness Areas, WSAs, and Other Related Lands represent three of these eleven premier designations. By putting these lands into an organized system, the BLM hopes to increase public awareness of these areas' scientific, cultural, educational, ecological and other values.The BLM's management of all public lands included data within the NLCS is guided by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA). FLPMA ensures that many of BLM's traditional activities such as grazing and hunting, continue on the lands within the NLCS, provided these activities are consistent with the overall purpose of the area.A Wilderness is a special place where the earth and its community of life are essentially undisturbed; they retain a primeval character, without permanent improvements and generally appear to have been affected primarily by the forces of nature. BLM NLCS Other Related Lands are lands not in Wilderness or WSAs that have been determined to have wilderness character through inventory or land use planning. These lands fall into one of two categories. The first category are lands with "wilderness value and characteristics". These are inventoried areas not in Wilderness or WSAs that have been determined to meet the size, naturalness, and the outstanding solitude and/or the outstanding primitive and unconfined recreation criteria. The second category are "wilderness characteristic protection areas". These are former lands with "wilderness value and characteristics" where a plan decision has been made to protect them.To be designated as a WSA, an area must have the following characteristics: Size - roadless areas of at least 5,000 acres of public lands or of a manageable size; Naturalness - generally appears to have been affected primarily by the forces of nature; Opportunities - provides outstanding opportunities for solitude or primitive and unconfined types of recreation. In addition, WSAs often have special qualities such as ecological, geological, educational, historical, scientific and scenic values.There were forty-seven Wilderness Areas established under the Arizona Wilderness Act of 1984 and Arizona Desert Wilderness Act of 1990. These Acts require the BLM to file boundary legal descriptions and maps to Congress for each Wilderness Area. The standards, format, and language for the legal descriptions and boundary maps were developed during regular meetings of the NLCS Coordinator, GIS specialists and the Cadastral Surveyors. Guidance was provided from congressionally-required map and legal boundary descriptions detailed in the NLCS Designation Manual 6120 (March, 2010). All Arizona BLM Wilderness Area boundary legal descriptions and maps have been transmitted to Congress and certified by the Chief of Cadastral Survey and Arizona State Director. There should be no changes to Wilderness Boundary GIS data. Boundary changes can only be made through an amendment to the legal description and this would need to be sent back to Congress.

description: This document contains a map of the proposed wilderness area and a testimony regarding the proposed wilderness. The testimony states that several islands should be included in the National Wilderness Preservation System.; abstract: This document contains a map of the proposed wilderness area and a testimony regarding the proposed wilderness. The testimony states that several islands should be included in the National Wilderness Preservation System.

These data are intended for geographic display and analysis at the national level, and for large regional areas. The data should be displayed and analyzed at scales appropriate for 1:1,000,000-scale data. No responsibility is assumed by the National Atlas of the United States in the use of these data.