For a place to become a Wilderness Area, Congress must enact a law designating lands identified in the law as Wilderness. While the legislative process can be time consuming, the fact that Wilderness Areas are protected by law makes the designation one of the best protections for our federal public lands.

Only public lands managed by the federal government can be designated Wilderness. These public lands include our National Forests, National Parks, National Wildlife Refuges, and Bureau of Land Management lands. State and private lands can be included within the boundaries of a Wilderness Area but those lands are not subject to the requirements of the Wilderness Act.

The Wilderness Act defines criteria or characteristics of a Wilderness Area. Lands must meet criteria set forth by the Wilderness Act to become Wilderness, including:

1. The area must be “natural” in that it generally appears to have been affected primarily by the forces of nature, with the imprint of man's work substantially unnoticeable.
2. The area should have outstanding opportunities for solitude or primitive and unconfined type of recreation.
3. The area must be at least 5,000 acres of land or be of sufficient size as to make practicable its preservation and use in an unimpaired condition.
4. The area should be recognized for other supplemental values such as ecological, geological, or other features of scientific, educational, scenic, or historical value.

Congress requires federal land management agencies like the BLM, Forest Service and National Park Service to inventory and identify lands for wilderness characteristics. These agencies have inventoried their lands and periodically revisit those inventories. Agencies, individuals, or organizations all have the ability to recommend areas for wilderness, but it is up to Congress to pass an act actually designating wilderness areas.