Interior Secretary Sally Jewell will be among the dozens of officials and conservation experts gathering in New Mexico this week for a conference aimed at celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act.
Jewell is scheduled to deliver the keynote address at the conference Thursday.
Organizers say the conference is the first national gathering of wilderness advocates, educators, students and researchers in 25 years.
Other speakers include astronaut Joseph Acaba, Native American educator Greg Cajete and author Terry Tempest Williams.
The Wilderness act was signed into law in 1964 and an initial 9.1 million acres were set aside. Since then, Congress has added more than 100 million acres to the nation's wilderness preservation system.
There are more than 750 wilderness areas across the country, including many in New Mexico.
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