This data set depicts the boundaries of Wild Areas managed by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Division of State Parks. This data was derived by digitizing United States Geological Survey (USGS) Digital Orthophoto Quarter Quadrangles (DOQQ) from boundary descriptions and sketches varying in age, content and quality. The Missouri Wild Area System was partially modeled after the National Wilderness Preservation System. Wild areas are protected by the benefits they provide for hiking and backpacking as well as the benefits they provide as outdoor classrooms for environmental education and as increasingly important reservoirs of scientific information. According to the Department of Natural Resources' policy, a wild area must be a "spacious" tract of land generally 1,000 or more acres in size. Generally, it must appear to have been affected primarily by the forces of nature, and to possess outstanding opportunities for solitude and unconfined recreation.
