Under the patently false and short-sighted premise that conserving federal public lands equates to “no use” of those lands, the Trump administration just announced it will rescind the resoundingly popular Conservation and Landscape Health Rule, also known as the Public Lands Rule. This action deliberately ignores that fact that our public lands in their natural state provide essential services, including providing places for Americans to recreate and serving as the home of America’s beloved wildlife.
Finalized in 2024, the Public Lands Rule marked a critical shift at the Bureau of Land Management, rebalancing its focus on industrial use with the agency’s equally critical responsibility to sustainably manage wildlife and our natural resources. The rescission of this rule threatens to return land management to a lopsided, extraction-first mentality that overlooks the importance of sustaining healthy ecosystems. And it ignores the reality that agency management practices have long prioritized grazing, logging, energy development and mineral extraction and, as a result, our public lands are in substandard condition.
The public lands at issue, which are managed by BLM and span 245 million acres – or about 10% of the United States – are critical to conserving wildlife and support over 300 threatened and endangered species and 2,400 sensitive species. This includes the elusive pygmy rabbit that makes it home in sagebrush steppe, the pinyon jay that depends on healthy arid woodlands, and the Mojave Desert tortoise that depends on interconnected desert habitats for its survival.
The Public Lands Rule applies a balanced, long-term perspective by considering the needs of both human and wildlife populations and providing tools for addressing habitat loss and climate change – the two most significant drivers of species extinctions. For instance, the rule expands the use of land health assessments and establishes an adaptive management framework in which land managers periodically assess resource conditions and identify corrective actions when land health is failing.
Of the 155 million acres eligible for land health assessments, 57 million have failing land health grades and 36 million have not ever been assessed. Invasive weeds continue their relentless march across the west with almost 30 percent of the cold deserts of the interior west dominated by weeds. This compares to 4% in 1992. Compounding these stressors is climate change with 60% of public lands experiencing chronic drought.
The proposed rescission of the Public Lands Rule comes on the heels of the proposed rescission of the U.S. Forest Service Roadless Area Conservation Rule that protects 45 million acres of backcountry forests from industrial extraction and further habitat fragmentation. The Roadless Rule has served our nation for a quarter century, ensuring that the last remaining intact habitats on national forests are conserved for outdoor recreation, wildlife habitat, and healthy watersheds rather than be sacrificed to bulldozers and pavement.
The rescission of both of these rules will be devastating for our federal lands – and future generations that will rely on them – and blatantly dismisses public demand to protect our natural heritage. Nowhere was this demand more clearly on display than three months ago when Congress had to back away from a proposal to sell off public lands in order to secure sufficient votes for its mega-reconciliation bill. People from across the political spectrum expressed their outrage, which was rooted in their deep-seated belief that federal lands belong to all Americans and those lands are cherished for what they offer in their natural, undeveloped state.
The proposed rescissions of the Public Lands Rule and Roadless Rule are part of a larger pattern of policy changes seeking to dismantle public protections for the benefit of private interests. Please join us in telling this administration and Congress once again that gutting common-sense safeguards for the nation’s lands, waters and wildlife is not a deal you are interested in.
Take action now by submitting a comment in opposition to the rescission of the Roadless Rule by September 19th and the rescission of the Public Lands Rule by November 10th. Please also contact your U.S. Senators and Representatives to express your opposition to the rescission of these important land management policies.
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