Interior Department Eliminates Rule That Made Conservation a Use of Public Lands

The Department of the Interior repealed a Biden-era regulation on May 11 that had placed conservation on par with drilling, mining, and grazing on roughly 245 million acres of federal public land.

The 2024 rule allowed public property to be leased for restoration in the same way that oil companies lease land for drilling. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in September 2025 that the rule could have blocked access to hundreds of thousands of acres (hectares) of land, preventing energy and timber production and hurting ranchers who graze on public lands.

The rescission of the Conservation and Landscape Health Rule, also known as the Public Lands Rule, by the department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is set for publication in the Federal Register on May 12 and takes effect 30 days after publication, restoring the pre-2024 regulatory framework governing the agency.

“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 agency stated in the filing.

The department said the 2024 rule was contrary to the Bureau of Land Management’s mandate and statutory authority. The document states that the Biden-era rule “inappropriately elevated conservation as a discrete ‘use’ of the public lands, contrary to FLPMA’s  intent and statutory framework.”

It also claimed the rule eliminates a restoration and mitigation leasing program, provisions governing Areas of Critical Environmental Concern, and new Land Health Standards requirements that the agency characterized as burdensome.

The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 required the agency to manage public lands under a doctrine of “multiple use and sustained yield,” meaning the agency must balance between recreation, range, timber, mineral extraction, and other purposes without permanently impairing land productivity. For 50 years, the Interior Department interpreted conservation as a component of that framework rather than a standalone permitted use.

That rule drew scrutiny in 2023, when Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said that the new conservation rule would effectively restrict public access to federal lands.

Burgum announced his intention to rescind the rule in September 2025, saying that it “had the potential to block access to hundreds of thousands of acres of multiple-use land – preventing energy and mineral production, timber management, grazing and recreation across the West.”

Bobby McEnaney with the Natural Resources Defense Council said repealing the rule ”means less protection for the clean drinking water, less protection for endangered wildlife that depend on healthy habitat, and less accountability when corporations leave these landscapes damaged and degraded.”

In the filing, the agency said it had received 138,161 comment submissions during the public rulemaking process, including 129,029 duplicate form letters and 9,132 unique responses.

Dan Naatz, from the Independent Petroleum Association of America, said in a statement that repealing the rule provides “greater clarity and predictability for independent oil and natural gas producers—many of whom rely on consistent permitting and leasing processes to operate efficiently and invest in domestic energy supply.”

In addition to its surface land holdings, the Bureau of Land Management regulates publicly owned underground mineral reserves—such as coal for power plants and lithium for renewable energy—across more than 1 million square miles.