Proponents of wilderness often cite the provision of high-quality water as a key benefit provided by designated wilderness areas to society. We critically examine this claim by exploring the relationship between wilderness and water resources from an economic perspective. We demonstrate strong spatial and hydrological links from wilderness areas to downstream users: substantial portions of the United States' total water resources originate in, or flow through, wilderness areas. We then discuss coarse estimates of the total economic value of this water flowing from wilderness that could be based on this and related information, focusing our attention on the limitations of this approach. We then consider preliminary examples of the potential specific effects of alternative management schemes on the localized benefits of water resources. Throughout, we demonstrate theoretical and practical challenges to the more readily available approaches for estimating the value added to water resources by wilderness areas. We argue that rigorous characterization of the economic benefits provided by wilderness through water resources, if desired, will require substantial more development of case studies using these types of alternative approaches. That said, our review of the evidence demonstrates many important connections between the water resources that society depends upon and the public lands that it protects as wilderness.

(This paper is reprinted from a 2019 US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station publication titled A Perpetual Flow of Nature's Benefits: State-of-the Knowledge Report on the Economic, Social, and Tribal Values of Wilderness in America.)