The next 50 years: Opportunities for diversifying the ecological representation of the national wilderness preservation system within the contiguous United States

Abstract

The US National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) is the world’s largest wilderness protection network, yet within the contiguous United States (CONUS) it does not encompass the diversity nor is it fully representative of ecological systems on federal lands. To potentially increase NWPS diversity and representation, we simulated adding potentially eligible lands within CONUS, in the following sequence, to assess changes in ecological systems: National Park Lands not currently designated wilderness; non-NWPS lands currently managed to not degrade wilderness character; USDA Forest Service Inventoried Roadless Areas; and Bureau of Land Management roadless lands. Inclusion of these categories would increase the NWPS area from 12.8 to 48.3% of federal lands, increase diversity by adding 46 ecological systems, and nearly triple the number of ecological systems on federal lands with > 20% representation. Our analysis identifies opportunities to increase diversity and representation of ecological systems within the NWPS.