Defenders Condemns Revocation of Public-Backed Land Health Rule

Defenders of Wildlife today condemns the Trump administration’s announcement that it will revoke the Conservation and Landscape Health Rule, a critical rule that modernized the way we manage our national public lands. The rule, referred to as the Public Lands Rule, requires science-based decision-making and consideration of conservation in the mix of multiple uses, and emphasizes the importance of managing for sustainability to maximize benefit to the American people.

"The revocation of this rule commits our National System of Public Lands to outdated management that will confound both science and sustainability,” said Vera Smith, national forests and public lands director at Defenders of Wildlife. “This rule provided for healthy habitats and now it’s foolishly being yanked away in service of the ‘Drill, baby, drill’ agenda.”

The Bureau of Land Management administers the National System of Public Lands and is the agency that issued the Conservation and Landscape Health rule. Only 13% of the system enjoys strong conservation protections, with most of the remaining lands open to oil and gas drilling and mining. The National System of Public Lands is home to over 300 threatened and endangered species and an additional 2,460 at-risk species that are unlisted but trending downward. These at-risk species are struggling in the face of widespread habitat degradation resulting from chronic drought, continuing invasive plant species invasions, and unsustainable levels of grazing, oil and gas drilling, and other disturbances. These trends highlight the importance of this rule and its emphasis on science-based decision-making, land health and sustainability.