The wilderness consists of 12,336 acres (4,992 ha) managed by the U.S. Forest Service.

Middlebury College sold nearly all of Battell's lands to the Forest Service in the 1930s and 1950s.

It was the sale of these lands that prompted the Federal government to create the northern unit of the Green Mountain National Forest.

[4] The Long Trail crosses the entire length of the Joseph Battell Wilderness from Brandon Gap on its south edge to Middlebury Gap on its north edge.

This article related to a protected area in Vermont is a stub.