The BLM Received Over 150,000 Comments to Its Public Lands Rule—What’s Next?
What comes to mind first when people think of “BLM land” may vary drastically—from grasslands with grazing cattle, to the terraced topography of a copper mine, to a quiet riverside campsite, and the canyons and mesas that beckon adventurers. It’s the diversity of those uses and resources that makes the Bureau of Land Management’s job so difficult, especially with the goal of keeping resources productive into the future. As factors like climate change and increased recreational use put additional stress on these lands, the BLM faces new management challenges. A proposed new Public Lands Rule—which was open for comment earlier this summer—could greatly encourage conservation. Here’s a breakdown of what the rule could mean, how the Mighty Arrow Family Foundation and a few of our partners have engaged, and what’s next.
The Dolores River, photo credit: Nathan Fey
What exactly is this rule?
Overseeing 245 million acres of public lands, the BLM’s mission is to “sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.” Historically, that’s meant supporting traditional land uses like grazing, timber harvesting, energy development, and recreation. But despite the fact that the BLM is charged with keeping those lands healthy into the future, comprehensive regulations that balance conservation and future uses have never been established. The proposed 2023 Public Lands Rule, released in March, could change that, recognizing conservation as a “use” on the same level as previously established ones like grazing and oil drilling.
The proposed rule is part of the Biden Administration’s series of actions to conserve, restore, and expand access to lands and waters across the country and would give the BLM new ways to add conservation considerations across all its uses. It would expand the use of land health standards across all BLM lands to enable the agency’s staff to make better-informed decisions, and also systematize the use of conservation leases. Conservation leasing would give ranchers, the energy industry, and conservation groups a way to partner with the BLM to restore degraded ecosystems, ensure public access, and offset the effects of other uses. In addition, the rule would direct the BLM to conserve intact landscapes, manage for ecosystem resilience, and use conservation tools—including designating lands as “areas of critical environmental concern” (ACECs)—to protect its natural, cultural, and scenic wonders, and restore priority lands and waters.
These public lands offer spectacular vistas, irreplaceable cultural resources, critical wildlife habitat, sources of clean water, world-class recreational opportunities, and the potential to combat climate change. The proposed changes come at a crucial moment when these lands are facing stress from a changing climate and recreational use, as well as potential increased development for renewable energy.
“Part of the bigger picture is the recognition at BLM that they're going to have to do more development on public lands to meet our clean energy ambitions,” says Louis Geltman, VP for Policy and Government Relations at Outdoor Alliance. “How do we make sure that we're doing that as thoughtfully, as carefully, as we can to make sure that we're siting projects as appropriately as possible, compensating for unavoidable impacts, and managing multiple use lands in a way that's sustainable?"
Louis Geltman, photo credit: Outdoor Alliance
What’s at stake?
With BLM’s multi-use mandate, what’s at stake with this new rule might look different depending on your personal livelihood and recreation choices, but one thing is clear: The preservation of huge swaths of vulnerable public lands for future generations may depend on the outcome. With less than 15% of BLM land explicitly managed for conservation, that leaves the vast majority of these lands open for extractive leasing.
Hundreds of threatened or endangered wildlife species and thousands of rare plant species depend on BLM lands to survive, and the ecosystems existing on these undeveloped lands provide important buffers against climate change. Of course, the switch to renewable energy is another key part of mitigating climate change, and it will also require development. A goal of this proposed Public Lands Rule is to allow for construction of the necessary renewable energy infrastructure in the least harmful way possible.
Geltman says the new rule will be important as the BLM is required to weigh crucial green energy projects with the environmental degradation they may cause.
“I hate the term ‘balance’ because I feel like it sort of implies that there's a right amount of environmental destruction we should be doing,” he says. “But the rule emphasizes that conservation is a legitimate use and that BLM needs to be considering conservation in everything they're doing. And I think it's emphasizing through these new tools that conservation is something that needs to happen everywhere—not just on designated wilderness and monuments. Active conservation and restoration also need to happen on multiple-use lands.”
One concern that’s been voiced about the proposed rule is how it may affect grazing on BLM land, and we’ve consulted with the Green Groups Graze coalition to review how grazing on BLM lands might be impacted by the proposed rule. Importantly, of the roughly 109 million acres managed by BLM for livestock grazing, reports suggest that half of these lands fail to meet the agency’s minimum rangeland health standards, so this is a crucial intersection of conservation and traditional public lands use.
The proposed Rule would build on efforts by the BLM and grazing permittee/lessees to maintain healthy public lands that can support grazing well into the future, allowing grazing permittees or lessees to be part of or support a conservation lease to support compensatory mitigation, such as by improving the quality of habitat on their allotment and potentially coordinating with activities on their private land. But if the BLM receives an application for a conservation lease that conflicts with an existing grazing permit or lease, that conservation lease would not be approved. Conservation leases will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis to determine whether they are appropriate, but in all cases, valid existing rights and privileges will be respected, and land management decisions will still be subject to local land management plans.
River recreation on the Dolores River through BLM land, photo credit: Nathan Fey
The new regulations would also affect recreation—and Scott Braden, Director of the Colorado Wildlands Project, says it’s a good thing: “In Colorado, we have about 8.3 million acres of BLM lands, but only 8% of those lands are permanently conserved.” He points out that the BLM hasn't significantly updated how it approaches land management since the passage of the Federal Lands Policy and Management Act, FLPMA, in 1976—nearly 50 years ago.
“The world looks a lot different now,” Braden says. “This is, in my view, a very needed update that'll lead to better planning outcomes, which will lead to better plans, and better day-to-day management of public lands in Western Colorado.”
Not only will the 8.3 million acres of BLM lands in Colorado benefit from updated management tools, the 245 million acres of BLM lands across the western US need this new guidance too. It's time.
Scott Braden on the Dolores River, photo credit: Colorado Wildlands Project
What we’re doing, and what’s next
The BLM received more than 150,000 comments on the proposed rule this summer and is now reviewing them and doing the work of finalizing the rule. Well over 90% of the comments have reportedly been positive, but there’s still misunderstanding and fear about what this rule would mean. On June 15th, the House Natural Resources Committee heard testimony about the proposed rule, and the four-hour long hearing was filled with comments that show a total lack of federal public lands understanding and fear-mongering from some members of the committee and witnesses, including South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem.
Throughout the commenting process, I was able to meet with BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning during her visit to Colorado and participated in an industry-led call with BLM leadership—including Deputy Director Nada Culver and Acting Assistant Director for Resources and Planning Brian St. George—to better understand the implications of conservation leasing on public lands and outdoor recreation resources. We’re also supporting our Mighty Arrow partners as they work at the intersection of conservation and climate resilience through federal policy reforms..
“We continue to engage with the agency directly to make sure that they're staying on track, but also continue to activate voices, whether they be local elected leaders from Western Colorado, or just business owners, and others, to make sure that we keep a bit of a drum beat in the public discourse in support of the rule, and in support of more conservation orientation beyond BLM management,” Braden says.
This next phase of rulemaking is where politics often gets involved, and things get tricky. But Braden, for one, says he has a positive outlook.
“I think if the BLM is sensitive to the feedback and public comment that they've received, and uses that to inform the final rule, I think it'll go a long way to reassuring these constituencies that are nervous that they don't have anything to fear from this, and from conservation being put on an equal footing with the other uses on public lands,” he says. “Because it's not an ‘either/ or’—it's a ‘yes, and’ proposition. There's a way to graze animals on public lands that is sustainable, and contributes to landscape health. Everyone's just got to give a little, and I think when you get past the initial political posturing, and talk to people one-on-one, you can usually break through on that.”
That’s what makes us hopeful: talking in person with those whose lives or livelihoods could be affected by this rule—because ultimately, we share something big, which is a love of place. Finding that common ground will continue to be key as we navigate the nitty-gritty of policy, because ultimately none of us wants the environment we love to be degraded. We all want these places to be sustained into the future.
Photo credit: Colorado Wildlands Project
