SUCCESS FOR WILDERNESS
Since it was founded in 1992, The Wilderness Land Trust has preserved more than 200 inholdings in 41 designated and proposed Wilderness Areas. Click on the highlighted states or read below for details on our projects:

Arizona
The Wilderness Land Trust has worked in the following four Bureau of Land Management Wilderness Areas: Mount Tipton, Muggins Mountain, Swansea and Wabayuma Peak. A total of 1,114 acres of inholdings in 41 parcels have been preserved in Arizona. In April 2005, the Trust received a major grant to acquire more inholdings in Arizona’s Wilderness Areas, and work is currently underway. More than 4,400 acres of wilderness inholdings remain in Arizona’s BLM Wilderness Areas.

California
The Trust has preserved 6,050 acres of inholdings in 37 parcels in California’s designated and proposed Wilderness Areas. Nearly 1,600 of these acres were in the Trinity Alps Wilderness Area. The majority of the Trust’s activities since early 2004 have taken place in the state, thanks to the generous support of the Resources Legacy Fund Foundation—and there remains much more work to be done. California has the largest number and acreage of inholdings in Forest Service designated Wilderness Areas in the lower 48 states—more than 22,000 acres in 258 parcels.

Colorado
The Wilderness Land Trust began its work in 1992 in Colorado, and more than half of its projects have taken place in the state. To date, the Trust has preserved 5,303 acres in 132 different parcels. These projects have taken place in 16 of the state’s 41 Wilderness Areas, including the Maroon Bells-Snowmass, Holy Cross, Raggeds, and Collegiates. The Trust’s work has significantly reduced the threat inholdings pose to Colorado’s designated Wilderness Areas. Less than 2,000 acres of high and secondary priority parcels remain in Colorado. The Trust believes that largely eliminating the threat of inholdings in Colorado in the next five years is within reach.

Montana
The Trust has completed one project in the Rattlesnake Wilderness Area near Missoula. Although there are relatively few inholdings in Montana’s designated Wilderness Areas, they are typically very high priority properties, controlling water and access to public lands. The Trust plans to undertake an inventory and prioritization of these important properties in the coming year.

New Mexico
The Trust acquired one inholding in the Gila Wilderness. As the first designated Wilderness Area anywhere in the world, the Gila received Forest Service administrative protection in 1924 at the urging of Aldo Leopold.

Washington
The Trust has helped preserve five parcels, totaling 297 acres, in Washington. These properties are in the Glacier Peak Wilderness, Stephen Mather Wilderness, and Wild Sky Proposed Wilderness. In late 2003 The Trust opened an office in Seattle, which is managed by a Board member on a volunteer basis. We expect to complete an increasing number of projects in the region in the next several years. Our first step is to inventory and prioritize the inholdings in Washington’s designated Wilderness Areas.