The Department of the Interior is reviewing wilderness management policies across millions of acres of federal public land, and the public has until Friday, Aug. 14, 2026, to weigh in.
The review involves the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Interior says it is considering updates or revisions to existing wilderness policies in an effort to improve consistency and management across the agencies.
So far, Interior hasn’t proposed a specific policy change.
What’s Being Reviewed?
For the BLM, the review includes Manual 6330, which governs Wilderness Study Areas. Those are lands the agency manages to preserve their wilderness character, unless Congress decides otherwise. The BLM manages 491 Wilderness Study Areas covering more than 11.1 million acres.
The National Park Service is also reviewing Director’s Order 41, its wilderness stewardship policy. The Fish and Wildlife Service is reviewing wilderness policies for national wildlife refuges and other lands it manages.
Separate proposed guidance for recreational climbing in wilderness areas is also under review, though the broader policy review reaches well beyond climbing.
Conservation groups are watching the process closely. The Wilderness Society estimates that nearly 200 million acres of designated wilderness and other lands with wilderness characteristics could be affected across Interior agencies. That’s the group’s estimate, not a figure published by Interior.
You Have Until Aug. 14
Comments on the BLM Wilderness Study Area policy can be submitted through Regulations.gov under docket BLM-2026-0069. The National Park Service review is under NPS-2026-0100, and the Fish and Wildlife Service review is under FWS-HQ-NWRS-2026-2575.
All three comment periods close Aug. 14, 2026.
If you care about how these public lands are managed, this is the window to speak up while the policies are still under review.
