WASHINGTON, June 3, 2024 — Today, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack provided the following declaration commemorating the 100th anniversary of the classification of the Gila Wilderness in New Mexico, the first-ever designated wilderness worldwide.
“A century ago today, the U.S. Forest Service’s classification of the Gila Wilderness started a nationwide custom of protecting distinct and cherished landscapes. With more than 800 federally designated wilderness locations in the U.S., consisting of over 111 million acres of safeguarded land today, the Gila Wilderness set a precedent for wildlife and wild land security. Wilderness locations are precious for their chances for leisure, wildlife environment, and their contributions to rural economies. They play an essential function in alleviating the effects of environment modification, consisting of through carbon sequestration, and safeguarding valuable freshwater resources.
“Today, we likewise honor the Indigenous individuals who stewarded this landscape for countless years, and we acknowledge conservationist and previous Forest Service staff member Aldo Leopold who proposed wilderness security for the Gila landscape. Developed on June 3, 1924, today, the Gila Wilderness incorporates 559,688 acres, with the surrounding Aldo Leopold Wilderness including another 202,016 acres. While the Gila set the phase for many wilderness classifications by administrative action, it wasn’t up until 1964, forty years later on, that the Wilderne