Special Provisions in Wilderness: Inholdings & Rights of Way   

Course summary: 

Access to State or private inholdings and valid occupancies is guaranteed by Section 5 of the Wilderness Act of 1964, and rights-of-way existing prior to wilderness designation may continue as an exception to the prohibition of uses found in Section 4(c). This training course addresses the management of rights-of-way and access to inholdings in designated wilderness. 

Course objectives: 

After completing this course, learners should be able to: 

• Describe an approach to managing inholdings and edgeholdings that is consistent with the Wilderness Act. 

• Define terms related to inholdings, edgeholdings, access, and rights-of-way. 

• Explain how agencies acquire inholdings and edgeholdings. 

• Explain the types and extent of access available to inholdings and edgeholdings. 

• Identify key issues in processing an authorization to access an inholding. 

• Describe allowable maintenance of access routes. 

• Locate agency policies and case law that relate to inholding and edgeholding access in wilderness. 

• Discuss special legislative provisions. 

• Describe an approach to managing rights-of-way that is consistent with the Wilderness Act. 

• Identify non-vehicular rights-of-way that may be located in wilderness. 

• Explain how access to a right-of-way is determined. 

• Define an RS2477 public right-of-way. 

• Explain how such a right-of-way might be managed in a wilderness. 

• Locate agency-specific regulations regarding rights-of-way. 

• Discuss special legislative provisions. 

Course topics include: 

• Making Sense of Terminology 

• Inholdings and Edgeholdings 

• Rights-of-Way 

Elements of the course: 

• Informational text 

• Interactive practice activities 

• Engaging videos 

• Supplemental reference materials 

• Final assessment 

This course is self-paced, allowing learners the flexibility to complete the course as quickly or slowly as they need. 

After completing all course content and activities, you will complete a final quiz to demonstrate your understanding of key course concepts. Upon successful completion of the quiz, you will be awarded a certificate of completion. 

Recommended background:

It is strongly recommended that you complete the free The Wilderness Act of 1964 e-course before beginning this course. Without foundational knowledge of the Wilderness Act, you will not be able to get the most out of this course and could find the content confusing. It is also recommended that you complete the Minimum Requirements Analysis (Writing and Evaluating) courses. 

Please Note: After successfully registering for this course, login information for the online learning platform, Canvas, will be emailed to you at the address used for your account creation. This process could take up to 48 hours to complete. If you do not receive the login information in 48 hours, please email ExtendedLearningSupport@umontana.edu for assistance.