The U.S. Department of the Interior on March 30 published a proposal that could shift priorities on 245 million acres of public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The rule would likely mark a sizable shift in BLM practices; according to an agency statement, it intends to put “conservation on equal footing with other uses,” which it says is “consistent with the BLM’s multiple use and sustained yield mission.”
The rule would give the BLM authority to issue conservation leases, a new tool meant to promote land protection and ecosystem restoration. It would also prioritize the creation of more Areas of Critical Environmental Concern, a designation that limits uses like mining and drilling that the agency deems environmentally destructive.
With the proposed Public Lands Rule’s publication in the Federal Register, a 75-day public comment period will begin. The BLM will also host five information forums to discuss the details of the rule. Should it go into effect, the rule would direct the BLM to incorporate land health assessments into its decision-making processes regarding land use.
The agency administers some 18,000 permits and leases held by ranchers who graze cattle, sheep and horses on more than 21,000 allotments across 155 million acres. Nearly one-fourth of all land in the 11 contiguous Western states is managed by the BLM.
“In light of the rapidly changing climate and increasing demands on public lands, the additional information will be used to identify trends, implement adaptive management strategies and ensure decisions are informed by the best available science and on-the-ground monitoring,” read the BLM’s official announcement of the proposed rule. “It will also be utilized during the existing land management planning processes to identify public lands in need of restoration work or intact landscapes that may be best managed for their contributions to healthy, functioning ecosystems or water quality.”
Predictably, the announcement of the proposed rule has drawn skepticism from conservative legislators and public land use interest groups, especially in the West. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and Public Lands Council (PLC) expressed concern that the new rule would upend the BLM’s multiple-use mandate and jeopardize the agency’s ability to be a good partner to ranchers who manage millions of acres of public land across the West.
“Ranchers have a reasonable expectation of transparency and predictability with dealing with the BLM, and this proposed rule falls short on both accounts,” said Kaitlynn Glover, who serves as NCBA executive director of natural resources and PLC executive director. “Over the next 75 days, the BLM will have to answer some serious questions about their understanding of their multiple-use mandate and the value they place on their relationship with ranchers across the landscape.”
Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyoming), the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, decried the announcement, saying it “undermines the law’s multiple-use requirement for Bureau of Land Management lands.”
“As pressure on our public lands continues to grow, the proposed Public Lands Rule provides a path for the BLM to better focus on the health of the landscape, ensuring that our decisions leave our public lands as good or better off than we found them,” said BLM Director Tracey Stone-Manning. “We look forward to feedback from the public on how this proposal will help us best uphold the BLM’s important mission.”
