Learn about the Wilderness Areas Overlay, including the definition, benefits, tips, coverage and update frequency.
Available with any of the following subscriptions:
- All plans
Definition
This layer shows parcels of land designated as wilderness through the National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS). The NWPS includes more than 111 million acres of protected wilderness areas for all Americans to enjoy. The wilderness system has grown from 9.1 million acres from its beginning to roughly 111 million acres today, totaling 762 Wilderness Areas; almost two percent of the lower 48 states.
The first states to gain wilderness areas were Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming, but the program has expanded to 38 states.
The NWPS includes wilderness on four types of lands managed by the U.S. Government: national forests, national parks, national wildlife refuges and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands.
Key Benefits
- Recreational planning
- Searching for parcels near recreational land
- Highlighting a listing’s proximity to interesting and valuable public lands
Tip: Click on a wilderness area to see the pop-up with the name of each wilderness area.
Limitation: This layer should be used for reference only. Users should be cautious of potential temporal lags in updates, omissions and positional precision errors.
Coverage
Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming
Update Frequency
As updates are available