Mokelumne Wilderness, California

We Keep the Promise of Wilderness

Established in 1992, The Wilderness Land Trust is a national, nonprofit conservation organization dedicated to purchasing lands for the federal wilderness system to ensure their preservation.

With the Wilderness Preservation Act in 1964, Congress established the world’s first National Wilderness Preservation System, where “man himself is a visitor who does not remain.”  But simply drawing lines on a map and declaring it a wilderness area does not necessarily make a wilderness whole. Wilderness areas are often riddled with private ownership.  Many such “inholdings” predate the Wilderness Act and are vulnerable to mining, logging, oil and gas drilling and development. The Wilderness Land Trust works to acquire these lands. We then transfer them to federal agencies to be protected as wilderness forever.

By removing these threats not only protect these lands from development, but also the integrity of the surrounding wilderness.
Donors make this work possible.

Beyond its inherent beauty, many would say that wilderness defines the American spirit.  Wilderness has long inspired American thinking, writing and art.  As we face unprecedented global environmental challenges, wilderness is a last refuge for endangered wildlife, a source of clean air and water, and critical to understanding and limiting climate change.  

Our goal is to ensure that America keeps its promise to future generations that America’s wilderness will remain forever wild.