BLM Conservation and Landscape Health Rule
Current understanding
The 2024 Conservation and Landscape Health Rule (also known as the ‘Public Lands Rule’) established a framework treating conservation as a use on par with grazing, energy, and other uses on BLM-managed lands, including provisions for restoration and mitigation leases. BLM is fully rescinding the rule, citing a return to traditional multiple-use and sustained-yield principles under FLPMA and alignment with national energy policy. Practical effects include removal of the conservation-lease mechanism and reduced regulatory constraints on extractive and traditional uses; environmental groups argue the rescission weakens landscape-scale restoration tools, while industry and some western states argue it restores statutory balance.
Evidence log
- 2025-12-11 — Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Bureau of Land Management relating to “Central Yukon Record of Decision and Approved Resource Management Plan”.: cross-connection with blm-central-yukon-rmp: Central Yukon RMP’s ACEC/RNA designations reflected the conservation-emphasis approach associated with BLM’s Conservation and Landscape Health Rule; the CRA disapproval signals congressional pushback on that framework in Alaska. (novelty: 3)
- 2026-05-12 — Rescission of Conservation and Landscape Health Rule: cross-connection with federal-lands-access-restrictions: Rescission of the Conservation and Landscape Health Rule aligns with the broader executive-branch effort to remove restrictions on federal lands access and prioritize multiple-use over conservation-focused designations. (novelty: 2)