The BLM manages 517 Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs) containing about 12.6 million acres in the western States and Alaska. WSAs are places that have wilderness characteristics; that is a minimum size, naturalness, and outstanding opportunities for recreation which make them eligible for designation as wilderness.
As early as 1926, the earliest advocates of wilderness preservation had acknowledged the beauty and important ecological values of the desert lands under the BLM’s administration as candidates for wilderness protection. In 1976, Congress directed the BLM to evaluate all of its land for the presence of wilderness characteristics, and identified areas became WSAs. The establishment of a WSA served to identify areas for Congress to consider for addition to the National Wilderness Preservation System. Until Congress makes a decision to add a WSA, or ends consideration, the BLM manages WSAs to not impair their suitability for designation as wilderness.
Browse BLM wilderness study areas by state or region.
WSAs are special areas with ecological, geological, educational, historical, scientific and scenic values. Congress makes a final determination as to whether to designate a WSA as wilderness, but until it does so, BLM manages areas suitable for designation as wilderness. In Alaska, BLM manages one area as a WSA.
BLM Arizona manages two Wilderness Study Areas.
The 4,812 acre Baker Canyon Wilderness Study Area is 30 miles east of Douglas, Arizona in Cochise County.
The Bureau of Land Management in California manages 69 Wilderness Study Areas encompassing 1.4 million acres. Wilderness Study Areas in California provide diverse habitats from desert landscapes, grasslands, and arid alpine mountains to coastal temperate forests.
These lands are managed to protect present conditions and provide habitats for a variety of plant and animal threatened and endangered species. The Wilderness Study Areas currently provide crucial connecting corridors for migratory species from other wilderness areas.
BLM Colorado manages 53 WSAs covering about 600,000 acres.
BLM Montana/Dakotas manages 40 Wilderness Study Areas that cover over 540,000 acres.
As of 2016 BLM Nevada manages 60 Wilderness Study Areas (WSA) totaling 2,516,855 acres. These areas are actively administered to ensure
The BLM manages 85 WSAs in Oregon (over 2.6 million acres) and one WSA in Washington (5,700 acres). Congress, through the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, extended wilderness inventory, study, and management authority to the BLM and mandated that the BLM conduct wilderness inventories of its lands. Those lands found to possess wilderness values are to be managed to protect those values until such time as Congress either designates them as wilderness or releases them from further wilderness consideration.
