BLM cancels Public Lands Rule
by Pinedale Online!
May 11, 2026
On Monday, May 11, 2026, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) filed a notice in the Federal Register finalizing the elimination of the Conservation and Landscape Health Rule, also known as the Public Lands Rule.
"Through this final rule, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is fully rescinding the Conservation and Landscape Health Rule, issued as a final rule on May 9, 2024. This action restores balance to federal land management under the principles of multiple use and sustained yield by prioritizing access, empowering local decision-making, and aligning the BLM’s implementing regulations with statutory requirements and national energy policy."
The notice summary reads in part, "This action restores balance to federal land management under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA) by reaffirming the principles of multiple use and sustained yield, ensuring conservation does not restrict productive use of the public lands, and reducing regulatory burdens that impede efficient decision-making. The 2024 Rule introduced unnecessary complexity and placed operational constraints on the BLM’s planning and permitting processes. It also inappropriately elevated conservation as a discrete "use" of the public lands, contrary to FLPMA’s intent and statutory framework. By rescinding the 2024 Rule, the BLM eliminates mechanisms—such as restoration and mitigation leasing—that threatened to restrict productive use of the public lands and introduced uncertainty and unnecessary burdens in planning and permitting. Existing authorities and tools remain sufficient to address conservation objectives without imposing prescriptive mandates or rigid timelines on public land users and the BLM itself. Repeal of the 2024 Rule will, therefore, improve the BLM’s management of the public lands by restoring the more efficient processes in place prior to that Rule’s promulgation and removing any thumb on the scale in favor of conservation at the expense of productive use and development of the public lands and their many important resources."
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