By Kaitlyn Fletcher
The Trump Administration intends to repeal the Public Lands Rule that elevated conservation as an equal priority alongside other uses, such as grazing and drilling, on public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Eliminating the rule will roll back protection and restoration on millions of acres of public lands.
As the nation’s largest land management agency, the bureau stewards 245 million acres of public lands across 13 states in the American West.
Commonly known as the Public Lands Rule, the Conservation and Landscape Health legislation was a historic milestone that modernized the bureau’s management framework to ensure balance between conservation components and traditional, multiple-use values, such as livestock, energy development and mineral extraction.
With extensive scientific, Indigenous and public input, the rule was finalized in 2024. It is rooted in protection, restoration and informed management decisions to “safeguard the health of our public lands for current and future generations,” which aligns with the bureau’s mission.
The San Luis Valley Field Office manages nearly 500,000 acres of public lands in the Upper Rio Grande basin. Popular local landscapes include the climber’s haven of Penitente Canyon, the bike routes of Pronghorn Trails, and the wildlife sanctuary of Blanca Wetlands.
Act Now for Public Lands states that the shift in requirements was an “overdue guidance for the agency to make smart, science-based decisions.” Conservation is defined as land management that maintains the health and productivity of public landscapes and supports the multiple-use mandate now and into the future.
In September, despite widespread support, the Department of the Interior (DOI) announced a 60-day comment period to gather feedback on the rule’s removal. The comment period ends on Monday, Nov. 10.
“The previous administration’s Public Lands Rule had the potential to block access to hundreds of thousands of acres of multiple-use land—preventing energy and mineral production, timber management, grazing and recreation across the west,” said Secretary Doug Burgum in the September press release.
Burgum claims the current rule “undermines” management practices because the land is “left idle rather than authorizing legitimate uses of the land.”
The numbers show a different narrative.
As of January, more than 81 percent of the bureau’s lands are open to oil and gas extraction, more than 60 percent are available for livestock grazing and more than 4 percent hold active mining claims, based on an analysis by the Wilderness Society. Leased lands eliminate public access and hinder management for at least 10 years, if not decades.
“The administration sees the multiple-use mandate as a nuisance,” said Christine Canaly, the director of the San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council. “They want to remove public voices from public land management.”
An analysis of more than 150,000 public comments, conducted by the Center for Western Priorities during the initial 90-day period in 2023, found that 92% supported elevating conservation in the management of America’s public lands.
Since 1976, this agency has operated under a multiple-use and sustained-yield mandate that should prioritize public interests above private profits.
It was lopsided to favor extractive industries that degraded the landscape over the last few decades, claim the agency and other land advocates.
Twenty-two percent of its land fails to meet health standards. That’s 54 million acres of known degraded ecosystems that cannot meet the mandated mission. This includes large tracts of the Pinon Hills and the eastern side of Poncha Pass.
“The Public Lands Rule reaffirmed the foundational principle that the Bureau of Land Management’s multiple-use mission cannot be achieved without uplifting conservation and the health of our public lands,” said Soren Jespersen, the interim director at Colorado Wildlands Project.
The economic input of outdoor recreation also outweighs the extractive values of mining, oil and gas. Rural communities depend on healthy, intact ecosystems for their livelihoods. Impaired landscapes cannot support the mandated mission.
“The most effective caretakers of our federal lands are those whose livelihoods rely on their well-being,” Burgum continued. “Overturning this rule protects our American way of life and gives our communities a voice in the land that they depend on.”
“This is yet another step toward the continued erosion of our wild places,” Jespersen said. “…and we will not stand by it silently.”
“This is just one of more than 200 recessions, or weakening of current regulations, that are in progress in the Department of the Interior since the beginning of the Trump administration.
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60-day comment period ends in November
The 60-day comment period on the Conservation and Landscape Health Rule ends on Monday, Nov. 10. Use the QR code or the link to share your opinion about the recession at: