Medicine. Lake. Lostwood. Chase Lake. Bosque del Apache. Bitter Lake. Wichita Mountains. Agassiz. Lacassine. Breton. St.
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Welcome to Wilderness
In the National Wildlife Refuge System
Escape from a hectic, noisy world and find solitude in the Selawik Wilderness in Alaska. Photo: Brian Anderson
Something will have gone out of us as a people if we ever let the remaining wilderness be destroyed… Wallace Stegner, American historian, novelist, and environmentalist
Wilderness areas are wild, roadless, undeveloped places where you can see wildlife in its natural habitat.
The National Wilderness Preservation System
nick kontonicolas
Experience Wilderness in the National Wildlife Refuge System
Wilderness is a place for primitive and unconfined recreation. It is a place of solitude and of peace and quiet.
The Chupadera Wilderness in New Mexico is home to ornate box turtles.
Sally Gentry
Enjoy wildlife photography along a canoe trail in the Okefenokee Wilderness in Georgia.
You can find about 20 million acres of designated wilderness in 63 national wildlife refuges. These lands contribute valuable wetlands, coastal islands, and deserts to the National Wilderness Preservation System. National wildlife refuges allow visitors to explore wilderness without motor vehicles, motorized equipment, or mechanical transport such as bicycles. Some refuges may limit public use to protect wildlife and its habitat.
Only Congress can designate wilderness, but every year local citizens and national conservation groups successfully recommend many additional areas to Congress for designation.
Wilderness Stewardship ray paterra
aaron drew
Encounter diverse wildlife, like this young piping plover (a threatened species), in the Brigantine Wilderness in New Jersey.
Wilderness is a place where children can connect with nature and learn about the intricate web of life. It is a place where families can create memories with challenging adventures in remote forests, or through more gentle pursuits such as wildlife photography and observation in coastal wetlands.
The first European explorers encountered an American continent that presented an almost unbroken wilderness. Within 500 years, it was nearly gone. The drive to conserve remnants of our wilderness legacy stirred the nation to pass the Wilderness Act of 1964, creating the National Wilderness Preservation System. This Wilderness System protects more than 107 million acres.
Managementignited fires in Cape Romain Wilderness in South Carolina help restore the natural habitat.
In wilderness, the forces of nature are unrestrained by man. But protection does not ensure sanctuary from external threats. In some wilderness, the Refuge System tries to restore natural conditions to benefit wildlife. Prescribed fire and endangered species re-introduction are important tools for restoration. Destruction and fragmentation of wildlife habitat and natural areas due to development, non-native plant and animal species, and global climate change, all threaten the Wilderness System. Together we can work to preserve our wilderness legacy: natural places of spiritual revitalization that will preserve wildlife, clean air, and clean water forever. We must “secure for the American people of present and future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness.” (Wilderness Act of 1964)
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Alligators control their temperature by mouthgaping in the Okefenokee Wilderness in Georgia.
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Least terns frequent the Brigantine Wilderness in New Jersey during the summer.
Moose are common residents in Alaska wilderness and the Red Rock Lakes Wilderness in Montana.
Pigments from a diet of small aquatic life give roseate spoonbills in the Ding Darling Wilderness in Florida their striking color.
Paddle the Monopoly Marsh of the Mingo Wilderness in Missouri.
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The Oregon Island Wilderness provides outstanding opportunities for marine and wildlife observation.
Discover the secrets of an inviting trail in the Crab Orchard Wilderness in Illinois.
Saguaros in the Cabeza Prieta Wilderness in Arizona provide safe havens for Gila woodpeckers and elf owls.
USFWS
Practice Leave No Trace Follow these seven steps as you enjoy the wilderness areas. www.lnt.org/programs n
Plan ahead and prepare
n Travel
surfaces
and camp on durable
n Dispose
Hike in the untrammeled beauty of the Havasu Wilderness in Arizona.
n Leave
of waste properly
what you find
n Minimize n Respect n Be
campfire impacts
David Brower, Environmentalist and first executive director of the Sierra Club
wildlife
considerate of other visitors
Join Get involved by joining a local Refuge Friends group. www.fws.gov/friends Volunteer Check with your local refuge office or register online to volunteer. fws.gov/volunteers Plan Your Trip Visit www.wilderness.net for a map of all federal wilderness locations, history of wilderness, and other information.
Help preserve habitat. Volunteers restore native plants in the Pelican Island Wilderness in Florida.
Joanna Webb
Learn More National Wildlife Refuge Wilderness www.fws.gov/refuges/whm/ wilderness.html
steve chase
To me, a wilderness is where the flow of wildness is essentially uninterrupted by technology; without wilderness the world is a cage.
How YOU Can Help Safeguard Wilderness
Selawik Koyukuk
Alaska Maritime
Innoko
Yukon Delta
National Wildlife Refuge System Alaska Maritime Designated Wilderness Yukon Delta Sixty-three national wildlife refuges and one fish hatchery have designated wilderness. The Refuge System administers its part of the las Izembek Preservation Alaska kaNational Wilderness Maritime System partnership with Main ritime the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Forest Service.
Togiak Becharof
Isla nds
Flattery Rocks
Lostwood
Chase Lake
UL Bend
Huron
Red Rock Lakes
Tamarac Seney Green Bay Gravel Island
Bosque del Apache
Havasu Imperial
Leadville Fish Hatchery
Kofa Cabeza Prieta
Mingo Havasu Imperial
Kofa Cabeza Prieta
Big Lake Bitter Lake
Togiak
Alaska Maritime
Kenai Alaska Maritime
Alaska Maritime
Izembek
Alaska Maritime
Lostwood
Agassiz
Huron Tamarac Seney Green Bay Gravel Island
Chase Lake
Michigan Islands Fort Niobrara Islands Michigan
Moosehorn
Mooseho
Michigan Islands Michigan Islands Monomoy West Sister Island
Monomoy
Great Sw Edwin Forsyth
Leadville Fish Hatchery
Fort Niobrara
Bosque del Apache
Yukon Delta
Medicine Lake
Farallon
Farallon
Innoko
Yukon Delta
Alaska Maritime
Maritime
Agassiz
Red Rock Lakes
Ore
ka
San Juan Islands Quillayute Needles Copalis Three Arch Rocks
gon
UL Bend
Alaska Maritime
Becharof las
Ore
nds Isla gon
Medicine Lake
Arctic Selawik Koyukuk
Alaska Maritime
Alaska Maritime A
San Juan Islands Quillayute Needles Copalis Three Arch Rocks
Kenai
Alaska Maritime Alaska Maritime
A
Flattery Rocks
Alaska Maritime
Wichita Mountains
Lacassine
West Sister Island Bitter Lake
Mingo Big Lake
Wichita Mountains
Crab Orchard
Lacassine
Great Swamp Swanqua Edwin B. Forsythe Cape Romain
Crab Orchard
Blackbeard Island Wolf Island Okefenokee St. Marks Breton Lake Woodruff Cedar Keys Chassahowitzka Passage Key Pelican Island Island Bay J.N. “Ding” Darling National Key Deer Great White Her Key West
Swanquarter
Cape Romain
Blackbeard Island Wolf Island Okefenokee St. Marks Breton Lake Woodruff Cedar Keys Chassahowitzka Passage Key Pelican Island Island Bay J.N. “Ding” Darling National Key Deer Great White Heron Key West
The mission of the National Wildlife Refuge System is to administer a national network of lands and waters for the conservation, management, and where appropriate, restoration of the fish, wildlife, and plant resources and their habitats within the United States for the benefit of present and future generations of Americans.
Cover: Water lilies in the Okefenokee Wilderness trail in Georgia. Photo: Shawn Gillette
