Earlier this month, we celebrated the 62nd Anniversary of the Wilderness Act. On September 3, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the act into law.

The law created the National Wilderness Preservation System, beginning with 9.1 million acres. Today, it includes more than 111 million acres of congressionally designated wilderness across 44 states and Puerto Rico. These places are protected for the use and enjoyment of the American people—for you. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Wilderness supports clean air and water, wildlife habitat, solitude and quiet recreation. Many wilderness areas are also ancestral homelands and places of ongoing cultural and spiritual importance to Tribal Nations and Indigenous peoples. U.S. Forest Service

This anniversary also calls us to tell the fuller story. The idea of an “unpeopled wilderness” has too often overlooked Indigenous peoples’ long-standing relationships with, knowledge of, and stewardship of these lands. Expanding Indigenous leadership and participation is essential to the future of wilderness.

Today, wilderness protections remain part of a broader national conversation about conservation, energy development, mining, logging, recreation, and public access. The Department of the Interior has pursued reviews and changes to several public-land conservation policies, including the Public Lands Rule. Department of the Interior

The Wilderness Act reminds us that public lands are a shared trust—held not only for this generation, but for those yet to come.