In 1964, the House voted 373 to 1 to pass the Wilderness
Act on July 30, 1964.
President Ronald Reagan signed more wilderness protection
laws than any other president (10,600,000 acres designated,
affecting 31 states).
President Jimmy Carter designated the most Wilderness
acres of any other president, totaling 66,300,000
acres.
Seven out of every eight acres of public land Amer-icans
have “access” to are not protected by
law.
In 1924, 574,000 acres of the Gila National Forest
in New Mexico were the first acres to be protected
as Wilder-ness in America by the USDA Forest Service.
Aldo Leopold was responsible for its Wilderness
designation.
The largest Wilderness area in the U.S. is the
8.7 million-acre Wrangell-St. Elias National
Park in
Alaska. The smallest Wilderness area is 5-acre
Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge in Florida.
The National Wilderness Preservation System is
managed by four federal agencies: the USDA
Forest Service,
the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land
Management, and the Fish and Wildlife Service.
Sources:
Wyoming Wilderness Association |
