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The Beginnings of the National Wilderness Preservation System


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.


Trivia at a Glance

Click on the questions below to reveal or hide the answers.
How many wilderness areas are there in the NWPS?
What is the total acreage of the NWPS?
109,129,657 acres
What's the smallest wilderness?
Pelican Island Wilderness, northern Florida (5.5 acres)
What's the largest wilderness?
Wrangell-Saint Elias Wilderness, Alaska (9,078,675 acres)
Where is the largest area of contiguous wilderness?
In this context, contiguous means wilderness land that is unbroken by any exempted corridors. In Alaska, the Noatak and Gates of the Arctic Wildernesses (12,743,329 acres) make up the largest area of unbroken wilderness. In the lower 48 states, the largest area of unbroken wilderness is found along the Sierra/Nevada crest in California. This area contains multiple wildernesses totalling over 2,400,000 acres.
What states have the most wildernesses?
What states have the most wilderness acres?
Are there any states that don't have any wildernesses?
Yes. Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Rhode Island don't have any wilderness areas designated.
Which agency manages the most wildernesses?
Which agency manages the most wilderness acres?
What's the newest wilderness?
The Hemingway-Boulders, White Clouds, and Jim McClure-Jerry Peak Wildernesses in central Idaho designated on August 7, 2015 by the Sawtooth National Recreation Area and Jerry Peak Wilderness Additions Act.
How many wildernesses does the Appalachian National Scenic Trail traverse?
The ANST passes through 25 wilderness areas.
How many wildernesses does the Continental Divide Trail traverse?
The CDT passes through 26 wilderness areas including the Gila, the first wilderness area, and near the Mission Mountains Tribal Wilderness, the first wilderness area designated by a Tribal Group, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of Montana.

Wilderness Area Database

Information about all of the 765 wildernesses that make up the National Wilderness Preservation System is available in a searchable format. Use the data search to find Wilderness areas by name, agency, state, size or year of enacting legislation.
Current acreages above are the sum of acreage measurements reported by each administrative unit for each wilderness. Data last updated on 9/21/15 (National Park Service acreages updated to be consistent with 2013-2014 wilderness report)). - read data disclaimer.

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