WILDERNESS IS LAND where natural processes direct the ebb and flow of life. Federal public lands of a generally undeveloped and natural character can be formally protected as Wilderness by Congress. Designated Wilderness Areas on National Forests and National Wildlife Refuges are available for this and future generations to enjoy for hiking, hunting and fishing, camping, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, birding, and nature study. They are protected forever from logging, road-building, new mining claims, and motorized uses.

Learn more about wilderness and the immense, diverse benefits it provides here.

In total, these six tracts of land comprise roughly 60,000 acres–only 1% of Vermont. These precious refuges of rugged natural beauty are sanctuaries both for the human spirit, and for shy and sensitive wildlife that avoid humans. With growing demands for quiet recreation, and with increased understanding of the need for large blocks of wild habitat to preserve biodiversity, now is the time to create more wilderness in Vermont.

MORE ROADS. MORE TRAFFIC. More noise and distractions. As the pace of life grows ever more frantic, as development sprawls across the countryside, Vermonters see our rural heritage slipping away. Roadless, backcountry lands available for traditional uses–-hiking, hunting and fishing, cross–country skiing–-are increasingly rare.

Wilderness provides an antidote: Solitude. Beauty. Silence. The opportunity to cast a fly over a remote trout stream, snowshoe through the stillness of a winter morning, hike to a mountain summit where the sights and sounds of wild nature replenish the soul.

But wilderness isn’t just for people. To bobcats and bears, wildflowers and warblers, and myriad other creatures — these wild places are home.

For people and nature, Vermont wilderness offers life in the slow lane–-without the whine of chainsaws or roar of traffic. Only the rustle of leaves. Birdsong. Rushing waters.

We’re the Vermont Wilderness Association.
Help us leave these sounds to our children.

1864
George Perkins Marsh, Vermonter and “Father of the Conservation Movement,” advocates for preservation and restoration of wilderness.

1932
The Green Mountain National Forest (GMNF) is established with the first land purchase of 1119 acres on January 9, 1932.

1935
Forest Service buys first piece of the 30,000-acre estate Joseph Battell bequeathed to be preserved forever as “considerable tracts of mountain forests in their original and primeval condition.”

1964
Congress passes the Wilderness Act, protecting nine million acres of federal land, but no wilderness areas are designated in Vermont. The GMNF covers 232,000 acres.

1974
Vermont Senator George Aiken, the “Father of Eastern Wilderness,” champions passage of the Eastern Wilderness Areas Act, establishing Vermont’s first wilderness areas at Lye Brook and Bristol Cliffs. The GMNF exceeds 250,000 acres.

1984
Congress establishes four new wilderness areasin Vermont—Breadloaf, Big Branch, Peru Peak, and George D. Aiken—bringing the total amount of Wilderness to about 60,000 acres or 1 percent of Vermont. The GMNF is 295,000 acres.

Today
The Green Mountain National Forest approaches 400,000 acres in size, with the expectation that it may eventually reach 500,000 acres. No new wilderness areas have been protected for nearly twenty years. Now is the time for more Wilderness.