Final Rescission of Public Lands Rule Reverses Modern Land Management, Threatens Wildlife Habitat

The Bureau of Land Management today announced a decision to roll back the Conservation and Landscape Health Rule, commonly referred to as the Public Lands Rule. The policy modernized how BLM manages our national public lands and represented the critical incorporation of ecological resilience into management alongside traditional resource extraction. The rule required science-based decision-making, conservation considerations within multiple land uses and a focus on sustaining public lands for the long-term benefit of wildlife and the American people.    

“Today’s repeal of the Public Lands Rule abandons progress at the same moment climate change, chronic drought and accelerating habitat loss demand better stewardship from BLM,” said Maddy Munson, senior planning and policy specialist for federal lands at Defenders of Wildlife. “When this rule was finalized almost two years ago, the agency acknowledged then what remains true today: decades of prioritizing resource extraction has resulted in large-scale degradation of habitats which urgently needs to be corrected through improved oversight and restoration. Irrespective of today’s repeal, the realities facing our public lands remain, as does BLM’s responsibility to sustainably manage them for the benefit of wildlife, communities and future generations."

The BLM administers the 245-million-acre National System of Public Lands — accounting for one in 10 acres in the United States. These lands provide habitat to over 300 threatened and endangered species and an additional 2,460 at-risk species that are unlisted but trending downward. Species found on BLM lands include the Mojave Desert tortoise and the Mexican long-nosed bat, among many others, some of which live nowhere else on earth.

Currently, 81% of the National System of Public Lands is open to oil and gas drilling, and approximately 60% are grazed by livestock, while only 14% are designated for enduring conservation. Decades of BLM management that has focused on extraction and resource development have contributed to the degradation of habitats and landscapes, leaving them less resilient and increasingly vulnerable to compounding pressures.  

Nowhere is this crisis more apparent than the Sagebrush Sea, which is considered one of the most threatened ecosystems in North America. Hundreds of at-risk species live within the Sagebrush Sea including the greater sage-grouse, pygmy rabbit, pinyon jay, sage thrasher and brewer’s sparrow. U.S. Geological Survey analyses show that only 13.6% of intact core sagebrush habitat remains, and we continue to lose more than 1.3 million acres of sagebrush habitat each year.  

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