Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute

The Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute (ALWRI), administered by the Rocky Mountain Research Station (RMRS), is an interagency national research facility. We are the only federal research program in the United States dedicated to the development and exchange of knowledge critical for stewarding the ~112-million acre U.S. National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) and similarly protected wild lands.

ALWRI has a long history of conducting and sharing science in support of the NWPS. Established in its current incarnation in 1993, the research institute grew out of a Forest Service Wilderness Research Management Unit, founded in 1967, soon after the passing of the 1964 Wilderness Act. We were intended to serve as a “model for integrated research and management to advance the understanding of the social, cultural, and ecological significance of wilderness and wildlands.”

Our program serves as a resource for scientists, managers, and stewards from different disciplines and backgrounds who seek to conduct, communicate, and learn about wilderness and wildlands science.

We envision "a world where science, wilderness, and relationships between all people and wild lands thrive”.  Our research staff collaborate with partners in the U.S. and around the globe.

Please visit the Leopold Institute’s interagency website to learn more.