Zion Wilderness

 

The Zion Wilderness is composed of a labyrinth of multicolored canyons carved out of the edge of the Markagunt Plateau. Forested plateaus and jagged slickrock peaks surround the canyons. Zion’s unique geographic location and variety of life zones combine to create a diversity of habitats for a surprising array of plant and animal species. Located on the Colorado Plateau, but bordering the Great Basin and Mojave Desert provinces, the Zion Wilderness is home to plants and animals from each of the three regions. Hikers come from around the world to experience the challenge of the canyons, the solitude of the plateaus, and the beauty of the massive sandstone cliffs.

Everything in the Zion Wilderness takes life from the Virgin River’s scarce desert waters. Water flows and solid rock is etched into cliffs and towers. Landscape changes as canyons deepen to create forested highlands and lowland deserts. A ribbon of green marks the river’s course as diverse plants and animals take shelter and thrive in this canyon oasis. From the beginning people sought this place, this sanctuary in the desert’s dry reaches. The very name Zion, a Hebrew word for refuge, evokes its significance.

Evidence of Ancestral Puebloans, known as the Anasazi, date from 2,000 years ago; Paiutes from about 800 years ago to present. Mormon settlers arrived in the 1860s. Park visitation in 1920 was 3,692; today Zion receives nearly 3 million visitors annually.

Visitors experience the wilderness by day hiking on designated trails and cross-country routes; backpacking and camping; canyoneering; and climbing. The Zion Wilderness provides both physical and intangible challenges for those that seek them.

 

The Wilderness Act
The Wilderness Act was passed by Congress in 1964 as a conscious decision to manage and act with restraint and let the natural world dominate in these special places. It is meant to be different. Wilderness areas are designated by an act of Congress and provide the highest level of protection for some of the most unique and least manipulated land in the United States. The Wilderness Act was enacted in 1964 with guidelines for future additions to the National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS). Forty-five years later in 2009, Congress established the Zion Wilderness, which currently includes 124,462 acres (or 194 square miles—over 83% of the park). The park also manages an additional 4,067 acres of potential wilderness and 9,047 acres of recommended wilderness.

“In order to assure that an increasing population, accompanied by expanding settlement and growing mechanization, does not occupy and modify all areas within the United States and its possessions, leaving no lands designated for preservation and protection in their natural condition, it is hereby declared to be the policy of the Congress to secure for the American people of present and future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness.”

“A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.”

“…there shall be no commercial enterprise and no permanent road within any wilderness area designated by this Act and, except as necessary to meet minimum requirements for the administration of the area for the purpose of this Act (including measures required in emergencies involving the health and safety of persons within the area), there shall be no temporary road, no use of motor vehicles, motorized equipment or motorboats, no landing of aircraft, no other form of mechanical transport, and no structure or installation within any such area.”

 

Other Provisions
In addition to Zion Wilderness designation, the 2009 Omnibus Bill affects Zion National Park in a number of other ways

• 153 Miles of Rivers and Streams within Zion National Park are now designated as Wild and Scenic to be managed under the requirements of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968.
• A 647 acre area of Bureau of Land Management land formerly known as the Watchman Wilderness Study area was added to Zion National Park.
• Nine Bureau of Land Management areas adjacent to Zion National Park totaling 67,244 acres were designated as Wilderness.

Other Resources

• Zion Wild and Scenic River Map (PDF 12.4 MB)
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• Learn more about Wild and Scenic Rivers in Zion.
• For information on recreating in the Zion wilderness, see the Zion Wilderness Information page.
• For more information about the Benefits of Wilderness, visit the NPS Wilderness Benefits page
• To learn more about Wilderness Characteristics, visit the NPS Wilderness Character page