What is the BLM’s authority to manage WSAs?
FLPMA directed the BLM to study the agency’s roadless areas and recommend those that should be designated as wilderness. The BLM inventoried the lands it manages in order to identify those with the basic wilderness characteristics described in the Wilderness Act of 1964. Public lands that had wilderness characteristics were designated as WSAs and are managed to protect these wilderness values until Congress decides the future of these areas.
