The Wilderness Management Distance Education Program (WMDEP) offers accredited university courses for a comprehensive study of wilderness management. WMDEP is a valuable tool for understanding the wilderness resource and the issues surrounding its management-includes topics form philosophy and ecology to recreation and planning.

Since the Wilderness Act of 1964, the National Wilderness Preservation System has grown from about 9 million acres to over 109 million acres. Good stewardship involves more than just acquiring suitable areas; it includes understanding how to appropriately manage wilderness resources.

The WMDEP is an interagency effort to increase wilderness scholarship among professional wilderness managers and the public at large. The WMDEP is sponsored by the Arthur Carhart National Wilderness Training Center and the University of Montana's W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation.