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