America’s landmark Wilderness Act turns 50 this week. Signed in 1964 by President Lyndon B. Johnson, the law enables the government to set aside certain areas for preservation and protection. About 5 percent of land in the United States -- nearly 110 million acres -- is considered “wilderness,” encompassing everything from deserts, tundras and canyons to sand dunes, swamps and savannahs.
“A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain,” the act says. In practical terms, that means no vehicles, motorbikes or bicycles and as little construction as possible. Wilderness areas must span at least 5,000 acres and boast opportunities for “unconfined recreation.”
The National Wilderness Preservation System includes about 760 areas peppered throughout 44 states and Puerto Rico. Here’s a glimpse of 10 of them. (Captions draw details from Wilderness.net, a collaboration of federal and university research programs.)
The 7,000-acre Brigantine Wilderness area in New Jersey, just north of Atlantic City, is a trail-less area, a tidal wetland and shallow bay habitat. The area is one of the most active flyways for migratory waterbirds in North America.Brian Braudis, USFWS, via Wilderness.netThe Juniper Prairie Wilderness area spans over 14,000 acres in Ocala National Forest in central Florida. The canoe is the only mode of transportation allowed here, and primitive camping is permitted. The broader Ocala Forest has over 600 natural lakes and ponds, plus highlands, coastal lowlands and swamps.Deborah Caffin, via Wilderness.netAbout one-third of the Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska is designated wilderness. The protected area encompasses over 2 million acres and includes the 20,320-foot high Mount McKinley, the highest point in North America. The entire Denali park -- a favorite of mountaineers and home to grizzly bears and caribou -- is bigger than the state of Massachusetts.
REUTERS/National Parks Service/HandoutThe 13,000 acres of Nevada's Big Rocks Wilderness area cover large boulder fields and varying colored layers of welded "tuff" -- or consolidated volcanic ash -- that have weathered into unusual rock formations. The desert area, in the southermost part of the North Pahroc Range, is rich in rock art and primitive campsites.Dave Jacobsen, via Wilderness.netThe Presidential Range-Dry River Wilderness area in New Hampshire covers 27,600 acres and houses deer, moose and black bear. The Dry River carves sharply through mountain ridges and spruce-fir vegetation.Steve Boutcher, via Wilderness.netCongress designated Michigan's Sleeping Bear Dunes as a 32,500-acre wilderness area in May 2014. The dunes run along 65 miles of the lower peninsula's shoreline on Lake Michigan. The designation follows a 13-year process of updating the National Park Service's general management plan. It was the first wilderness protection bill to pass both chambers of Congress since 2009.National Park Service
