page_title: Shoshone National Forest
section_title: Wilderness
hierarchical_section_title: Shoshone National Forest / Natural resources / Wilderness
caption_attribution_description: English: Popo Agie Wilderness in the Wind River Range of Wyoming, United States
context_page_description: Shoshone National Forest is the first federally protected National Forest in the United States and covers nearly 2,500,000 acres in the state of Wyoming. Originally a part of the Yellowstone Timberland Reserve, the forest is managed by the United States Forest Service and was created by an act of Congress and signed into law by U.S. President Benjamin Harrison in 1891. Shoshone National Forest is one of the first nationally protected land areas anywhere. Native Americans have lived in the region for at least 10,000 years, and when the region was first explored by European adventurers, forestlands were occupied by several different tribes. Never heavily settled or exploited, the forest has retained most of its wildness. Shoshone National Forest is a part of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, a nearly unbroken expanse of federally protected lands encompassing an estimated 20,000,000 acres.
  The Absaroka and Beartooth Mountains are partly in the northern section of the forest. The Wind River Range is in the southern portion and contains Gannett Peak, the tallest mountain in Wyoming.
context_section_description: The forest contains four areas of pristine wilderness that have remained largely untouched by human activities such as mining, logging, and road and building construction. The four regions include the North Absaroka, Washakie, Fitzpatrick and Popo Agie Wildernesses. Additionally, a small portion of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness extends into the extreme northwestern part of the forest, along the Montana border. In Shoshone National Forest, 1,400,000 acres (570,000 ha), constituting 56 percent of the forest is designated wilderness. The wilderness designation provides a much higher level of land protection and prohibits any alterations by man to the resource.
  The Wilderness Act of 1964 enhanced the protection status of remote and/or undeveloped land already contained within federally administered protected areas. Passage of the act ensured that no human improvements would take place aside from those already existing. The protected status in wilderness designated zones prohibits road and building construction, oil and mineral exploration or extraction, and logging, and also prohibits the use of motorized equipment, including even bicycles. The only manner in which people can enter wilderness areas is either on foot or horseback. Hunting and fishing are permitted in the wilderness, just as they are throughout the forest, provided those engaging in such activities have the proper licenses and permits.
caption: Popo Agie Wilderness
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