eng utf8 dataset dataset Bureau of Land Management Arizona State Office GIS Manager Arizona State Office, Bureau of Land Management GIS Manager (602) 417-9200 (602) 417-9556

One North Central Ave. Suite 800 Phoenix AZ 85004 US ASOWEB_AZ@blm.gov

Monday-Friday, 8 AM - 4 PM, Mountain Standard Time pointOfContact 2026-09-25 ISO 19139 Geographic Information - Metadata - Implementation Specification 2007 geometryOnly composite 225 composite 2 composite composite 1122 composite composite 55 26912 EPSG 6.11(3.0.1) 2022-03-30 publication U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Arizona State Office, Bureau of Land Management Bureau of Land Management Arizona State Office GIS Manager (602) 417-9200 (602) 417-9556

One North Central Ave. Suite 800 Phoenix AZ 85004 US ASOWEB_AZ@blm.gov

Monday-Friday, 8 AM - 4 PM, Mountain Standard Time originator Bureau of Land Management Arizona State Office GIS Manager Bureau of Land Management GIS Manager (602) 417-9200 (602) 417-9556

One North Central Ave. Suite 800 Phoenix AZ 85004 US ASOWEB_AZ@blm.gov

Monday-Friday, 8 AM - 4 PM, Mountain Standard Time publisher mapDigital This feature-dataset includes the polygon features representing the spatial extent and boundaries of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) National Landscape Conservation System (NLCS) Wilderness Areas, Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs), and Other Related Lands, as well as the arc features that define these polygons. The data standard for these boundaries will assist in the management of all eleven designations within the NLCS. Particularly, NLCS data pertains to the following BLM groups and their purposes: Land Use Planners, GIS Specialists, NLCS team leads, BLM managers, and public stakeholder groups. As early as 1926, the earliest advocates of wilderness preservation had acknowledged the beauty and important ecological values of the desert lands under the BLM’s administration as candidates for wilderness protection. In 1964, Congress established the National Wilderness Preservation System and designated the first Wilderness Areas in passing the Wilderness Act. The uniquely American idea of wilderness has become an increasingly significant tool to ensure long-term protection of natural landscapes. Wilderness protects the habitat of numerous wildlife species and serves as a biodiversity bank for many species of plants and animals. Wilderness is also a source of clean water. The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 directed the BLM to inventory and study its roadless areas for wilderness characteristics. Here identified areas became WSAs. The establishment of a WSA served to identify areas for Congress to consider for addition to the National Wilderness Preservation System. To be designated as a WSA, an area must have the following characteristics: Size - roadless areas of at least 5,000 acres of public lands or of a manageable size; Naturalness - generally appears to have been affected primarily by the forces of nature; Opportunities - provides outstanding opportunities for solitude or primitive and unconfined types of recreation. In addition, WSAs often have special qualities such as ecological, geological, educational, historical, scientific and scenic values. In June 2000, the BLM responded to growing concern over the loss of open space by creating the NLCS. The NLCS brings into a single system some of the BLM's premier designations. The Wilderness Areas, WSAs, and Other Related Lands represent three of these eleven premier designations. By putting these lands into an organized system, the BLM hopes to increase public awareness of these areas' scientific, cultural, educational, ecological and other values. The BLM's management of all public lands included data within the NLCS is guided by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA). FLPMA ensures that many of BLM's traditional activities such as grazing and hunting, continue on the lands within the NLCS, provided these activities are consistent with the overall purpose of the area. A Wilderness is a special place where the earth and its community of life are essentially undisturbed; they retain a primeval character, without permanent improvements and generally appear to have been affected primarily by the forces of nature. BLM NLCS Other Related Lands are lands not in Wilderness or WSAs that have been determined to have wilderness character through inventory or land use planning. These lands fall into one of two categories. The first category are lands with "wilderness value and characteristics". These are inventoried areas not in Wilderness or WSAs that have been determined to meet the size, naturalness, and the outstanding solitude and/or the outstanding primitive and unconfined recreation criteria. The second category are "wilderness characteristic protection areas". These are former lands with "wilderness value and characteristics" where a plan decision has been made to protect them. To be designated as a WSA, an area must have the following characteristics: Size - roadless areas of at least 5,000 acres of public lands or of a manageable size; Naturalness - generally appears to have been affected primarily by the forces of nature; Opportunities - provides outstanding opportunities for solitude or primitive and unconfined types of recreation. In addition, WSAs often have special qualities such as ecological, geological, educational, historical, scientific and scenic values. There were forty-seven Wilderness Areas established under the Arizona Wilderness Act of 1984 and Arizona Desert Wilderness Act of 1990. These Acts require the BLM to file boundary legal descriptions and maps to Congress for each Wilderness Area. The standards, format, and language for the legal descriptions and boundary maps were developed during regular meetings of the NLCS Coordinator, GIS specialists and the Cadastral Surveyors. Guidance was provided from congressionally-required map and legal boundary descriptions detailed in the NLCS Designation Manual 6120 (March, 2010). All Arizona BLM Wilderness Area boundary legal descriptions and maps have been transmitted to Congress and certified by the Chief of Cadastral Survey and Arizona State Director. There should be no changes to Wilderness Boundary GIS data. Boundary changes can only be made through an amendment to the legal description and this would need to be sent back to Congress. This dataset contains the polygons that define the boundaries of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) National Landscape Conservation System (NLCS) Wilderness Areas, Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs), and Other Related Lands. Bureau of Land Management, Arizona onGoing GIS Manager Arizona State Office, Bureau of Land Management GIS Manager (602) 417-9200 (602) 417-9556

One North Central Ave. Suite 800 Phoenix AZ 85004 US ASOWEB_AZ@blm.gov

Monday-Friday, 8 AM - 4 PM, Mountain Standard Time pointOfContact asNeeded Arizona place AZ United States USA Western States place AZ United States USA Western States place AZ United States USA Western States place AZ United States USA Western States place Authorizations congressional jurisdiction NLCS other related lands wilderness study area wld wsa theme Authorizations congressional jurisdiction NLCS other related lands wilderness study area wld wsa theme Authorizations congressional jurisdiction NLCS other related lands wilderness study area wld wsa theme Authorizations congressional jurisdiction NLCS other related lands wilderness study area wld wsa theme Authorizations congressional jurisdiction NLCS other related lands wilderness study area wld wsa theme Authorizations congressional jurisdiction NLCS other related lands wilderness study area wld wsa theme Authorizations congressional jurisdiction NLCS other related lands wilderness study area wld wsa theme Authorizations congressional jurisdiction NLCS other related lands wilderness study area wld wsa theme Geospatial Management Recreation Wilderness Wildlife Withdrawal theme Geospatial Management Recreation Wilderness Wildlife Withdrawal theme Geospatial Management Recreation Wilderness Wildlife Withdrawal theme Geospatial Management Recreation Wilderness Wildlife Withdrawal theme Geospatial Management Recreation Wilderness Wildlife Withdrawal theme Geospatial Management Recreation Wilderness Wildlife Withdrawal theme Downloadable Data These data are provided by Bureau of Land Management (BLM) 'as is' and might contain errors or omissions. The User assumes the entire risk associated with its use of these data and bears all responsibility in determining whether these data are fit for the User's intended use. The information contained in these data is dynamic and may change over time. The data are not better than the sources from which they were derived, and both scale and accuracy may vary across the data set. These data might not have the accuracy, resolution, completeness, timeliness, or other characteristics appropriate for applications that potential users of the data may contemplate. The User is encouraged to carefully consider the content of the metadata file associated with these data. These data are neither legal documents nor land surveys, and must not be used as such. Official records may be referenced at most BLM offices. Please report any errors in the data to the BLM office from which it was obtained. The BLM should be cited as the data source in any products derived from these data. Any Users wishing to modify the data should describe the types of modifications they have performed. The User should not misrepresent the data, nor imply that changes made were approved or endorsed by BLM. This data may be updated by the BLM without notification. The BLM assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions. No warranty is made by the BLM as to the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of these data for individual use or aggregate use with other data; nor shall the act of distribution to contractors, partners, or beyond, constitute any such warranty for individual or aggregate data use with other data. Although these data have been processed successfully on computers of BLM, no warranty, expressed or implied, is made by BLM regarding the use of these data on any other system, or for general or scientific purposes, nor does the fact of distribution constitute or imply any such warranty. In no event shall the BLM have any liability whatsoever for payment of any consequential, incidental, indirect, special, or tort damages of any kind, including, but not limited to, any loss of profits arising out of the use or reliance on the geographic data or arising out of the delivery, installation, operation, or support by BLM. otherRestrictions None, these data are considered public domain. unclassified Not classified. Not classified vector eng utf8 boundaries environment Esri ArcGIS 10.1.1.3143 publication date true -114.697716 -108.883062 31.300033 37.051053 2022-03-30 A published revision of the Department Manual’s Part 305: Departmental Science Effects, Chapter 3: Integrity of Scientific and Scholarly Activities (305 DM 3), effective December 16, 2014, is available online at http://elips.doi.gov/ELIPS/DocView.aspx?id=4056. Scholarly information considered in Departmental decision making must be robust, of the highest quality, and the result of as rigorous scientific and scholarly processes as can be achieved. Most importantly, it must be trustworthy. This policy helps us to achieve that standard (http://www.doi.gov/scientificintegrity/index.cfm). Enterprise Geodatabase Feature Dataset Bureau of Land Management Arizona State Office GIS Manager Arizona State Office, Bureau of Land Management GIS Manager (602) 417-9200 (602) 417-9556

One North Central Ave. Suite 800 Phoenix AZ 85004 US ASOWEB_AZ@blm.gov

Monday-Friday, 8 AM - 4 PM, Mountain Standard Time distributor dataset Unknown at this time. Unknown at this time. This national dataset is an aggregation from multiple datasets provided by the BLM Administrative States, please contact the distributor for additional information on provenance, history, accuracy and quality of the data. The logical consistency of this dataset reflects that of the source datasets. Each source dataset is run through a series of tests to verify that the data complies with the format specified in the Data Standard. ERRORS AND INCONSISTENCIES MAY STILL BE PRESENT IN THE DATA. These tests were conducted using ESRI ArcMap 10.1. The tests consisted of checking coded values for attributes against a domain of accepted values, checking that alpha-numeric values followed a valid format, and checking that numeric values were greater than zero. For the geometry, the topology was validated; however overlaps and gaps can still be found. This national dataset is an aggregation from multiple datasets provided by the BLM Administrative States, please contact the distributor for additional information on provenance, history, accuracy and quality of the data. The completeness of this dataset reflects that of the source datasets. For each Wilderness Area a proposed boundary line was prepared by a GIS specialist. The Legislative Map was the primary determinate for boundary placement. For comparative purposes these maps were digitized and georeferenced. This was particularly important as the small scale and thickness hand drawn line on the legislative map, meant that there was some latitude for interpreting the intent of boundary placement. Careful consideration was given to how each Wilderness Area boundary was depicted and managed. Wilderness Management Plans were consulted for boundary descriptions, and to find out what trails, range, and wildlife improvements were contained within each Wilderness Area. Some BLM field offices had prepared boundary maps on 1:24,000 USGS quad maps. These were particularly helpful, as they clearly demonstrated which features the boundary followed, and how the boundary had been managed over the intervening years. Master Title Plats were checked for any mineral claims or right-of-way which might affect the boundary. These were researched for current authorization and the serial casefile noted in the boundary line attribute table. 2019T00:00:00 GIS Manager Arizona State Office, Bureau of Land Management GIS Manager (602) 417-9200 (602) 417-9556

One North Central Ave. Suite 800 Phoenix AZ 85004 US ASOWEB_AZ@blm.gov

processor To ensure appropriate placement, the proposed boundaries were reviewed on multiple occasions by the BLM NLCS Coordinator, Cadastral Surveyors, Field Office Managers, Wilderness and Recreation Specialists, and Realty Specialists, Archaeologists were consulted when appropriate. Once the reviews were completed and there was a consensus on the final boundary placement, a separate point file of angle points was constructed with instructions from the surveyors. These points are described in each legal description as well as the direction that each wilderness area boundary proceeds. 2019T00:00:00 National Data Steward Bureau of Land Management, WO410 National Data Steward (202)912-7299 (202)245-0050

20 M Street SE Washington DC 20003-3503 US icohen@blm.gov

processor Please refer to individual process steps detailed in the metadata of individual feature classes within the NLCS WLD dataset. 2021T00:00:00 GIS Manager Arizona State Office, Bureau of Land Management GIS Manager (602) 417-9200 (602) 417-9556

One North Central Ave. Suite 800 Phoenix AZ 85004 US ASOWEB_AZ@blm.gov

Monday-Friday, 8 AM - 4 PM, Mountain Standard Time processor This official BLM Data Management handbook contains information about how data is administered, managed, and tracked. This handbook discusses how the BLM operates with regard to data development and design, quality, metadata, and business rules. The information this resource contains also pertains to geospatial data. 2014-12-05 publication Release 1-1762 U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) originator Direction is provided to implement Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Manual 6120 - Congressionally Required Maps and Legal Boundary Descriptions for National Landscape Conservation System Designations. 2010-03-05 publication U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) originator These data are provided by Bureau of Land Management (BLM) 'as is' and might contain errors or omissions. The User assumes the entire risk associated with its use of these data and bears all responsibility in determining whether these data are fit for the User's intended use. The information contained in these data is dynamic and may change over time. The data are not better than the sources from which they were derived, and both scale and accuracy may vary across the data set. These data might not have the accuracy, resolution, completeness, timeliness, or other characteristics appropriate for applications that potential users of the data may contemplate. The User is encouraged to carefully consider the content of the metadata file associated with these data. These data are neither legal documents nor land surveys, and must not be used as such. Official records may be referenced at most BLM offices. Please report any errors in the data to the BLM office from which it was obtained. The BLM should be cited as the data source in any products derived from these data. Any Users wishing to modify the data should describe the types of modifications they have performed. The User should not misrepresent the data, nor imply that changes made were approved or endorsed by BLM. This data may be updated by the BLM without notification. None, these data are considered public domain. unclassified Not classified Not classified asNeeded Last metadata review date: 20260909