Wilderness

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Wilderness...the word has different meanings to different people, but here in Shenandoah National Park, wilderness is something special. Of the park’s nearly 196,000 acres 79,579 have been designated by Congress as wilderness. However, what does this mean?

In 1964, the Congress of the United States passed a law known as the Wilderness Act, which created a National Wilderness Preservation System to provide an “enduring resource of wilderness” for future generations. 

President Lyndon Johnson signed the Wilderness Act into law on September 3, 1964. Today, the act protects over 100 million acres across the country as wilderness.

Wilderness, according to the Wilderness Act, “...in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.” The Wilderness Act goes on to describe wilderness as a place "retaining its primeval character and influence" where there are "outstanding opportunities for solitude".

When the Wilderness Act established the National Wilderness Preservation System, most of the wilderness areas created under the Act were located in the west. Areas in the east, such as Shenandoah National Park, did not meet the definition of wilderness. In 1975, Congress passed the Eastern Wilderness Areas Act, which aimed to include eastern wild areas, which showed signs of human use, but were now returning to a natural state, in the National Wilderness Preservation System.

The Eastern Wilderness Areas Act set the stage for wilderness designation in Shenandoah National Park. At the park's establishment, the land showed signs of human use. As time went on, nature began to reclaim the park and a wilder Shenandoah emerged.

In 1976, Congress designated 79,019 acres of Shenandoah National Park as wilderness to be protected as part of the National Wilderness Preservation System. In 1978, an additional 560 acres were designated as wilderness, and today, over 40% of the park, 79,579 acres is wilderness.

The park's wilderness areas offer outstanding opportunities for solitude and recreation. Many park trails pass through designated wilderness giving visitors the opportunity to explore and enjoy this unique resource. You should take extra care when exploring Shenandoah's wilderness. Visitors who wish to experience these areas should prepare their trips well in advance and should practice the principles of Leave No Trace so that the park’s wilderness is protected for future generations of explorers.