Last week, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) published agency guidance for its so-called "Conservation and Landscape Health" rule, which upends the agency's longstanding, statutory multiple-use and sustained yield mandate. Through this action, the BLM continues its march to cede control of federal lands to wealthy elites and environmental extremists and elevate the decisions of DC bureaucrats over the needs of local communities. 

"With this guidance, BLM continues to threaten the Western way of life and leave local communities out of the conversation. At best, BLM’s un-elected bureaucrats are creating pointless applications and desk work and giving their radical environmentalists friends a handout; at worst, they are targeting communities and economies across the nation, killing jobs, reducing public land access, and destroying our energy independence. Committee Republicans will continue to fight the BLM’s so-called "Conservation and Landscape Health" rule and its implementation." - House Committee on Natural Resource Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.)

Background

The BLM manages 245 million acres of public lands, which are heavily concentrated in the western states. Under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, the BLM's mission is guided by a multiple-use and sustained yield mandate. These uses include livestock grazing, energy and mineral development, timber production, outdoor recreation, wildlife habitat, and watershed protection. 

Multiple uses often overlap on BLM land and coexist with each other. Meaningful conservation work occurs simultaneously with and often benefits from other uses. Responsible use of BLM lands is central to the many rural economies that rely on their access to BLM land and its multiple uses to thrive.

The rule, finalized in April, broadly allows the BLM to lease lands under new and vaguely defined restoration and mitigation leases. Without Congressional authority, BLM is changing standards around multiple-use decisions. Mitigation and restoration leases could prevent current and future BLM permittees from accessing federal land. If the administration determines other uses, such as grazing, energy production, mining, or recreation, are incompatible with a lease, those uses could be prohibited indefinitely from BLM lands. Through its rulemaking, the Biden-Harris administration picks winners and losers on public lands, choosing well-heeled environmentalist organizations over families and local communities.

The Biden-Harris administration is orchestrating an attack on public lands under the guise of conservation. The final rule, coupled with the administration’s Antiquities Act abuses, restrictive Resource Management Plans, and a radical 30x30 agenda, limits access, hurts local economies and removes uses of public lands that benefit all Americans. The Biden-Harris administration’s actions are unnecessary, as meaningful conservation work is already being done on the millions of acres of BLM land with multiple stakeholders. 

In May 2023, U.S. Rep. John Curtis (R-Utah) introduced the Western Economic Security Today (WEST) Act shortly after BLM issued its proposed rule. The bill would require the BLM director to withdraw the rule permanently. The House Committee on Natural Resources held a hearing on the legislation in June 2023. South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem and Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon testified on the importance of access to BLM land for their states and the devastating impacts a final rule would have. The bill passed through the House Committee on Natural Resources in June 2023. To learn more about the hearing, click here.

In April 2024, the House of Representatives passed the WEST Act with bipartisan support.

To learn more about the WEST Act, click here.