The Wilderness Act of 1964 established a National Wilderness Preservation System, & this report is a compilation of info. about every wilderness within this System. For each wilderness, the following info. is given: legally correct wilderness name; public law (PL) that established the wilderness; date the enabling law was signed by the Pres.; acreage designated in the enabling PL; modifying PL that affected the name, boundary, or administration; current total acreage reported, the agency or agencies with current administrative authority; administering unit or units within the agency; & the State in which the wilderness is located.

There are growing pressures on undeveloped (wild) places in the Circumpolar North. Among them are pressures for economic development, oil and gas exploration and extraction, development of geothermal energy resources, development of heavy industry close to energy sources, and lack of appreciation for "other" orientations toward wilderness resources by interested parties from broad geographical origins. An international seminar in Anchorage, Alaska, in May of 2001, was the first step in providing basic input to an analysis of the primary set of values associated with Circumpolar North wilderness and the constraints and contributors (factors of influence) that either limit or facilitate receipt of those values to various segments of society.