Wilderness Act of 1964

The wilderness act of 1964 established the National Wilderness Preservation System in the United States, now comprising more than 680 units with a total of 106 million acres (42.8 million hectares). Federal lands protected under the Wilderness Act are defined 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.” Land designated by the U.S. Congress as wilderness areas are subjected to strict management regimes to provide the utmost protection for natural areas and the biological diversity they support. In recognizing the intrinsic value of ecosystems and their many components, Roderick Nash states that “[W]ilderness is not for humans at all, and wilderness preservation testifies to the human capacity for ...