# Public Lands Rule The [[Bureau of Land Management]]'s **Conservation and Landscape Health Rule** was universally called the Public Lands Rule. It was published at **89 FR 40308 on May 9, 2024**, took effect **June 10, 2024**, and was codified at 43 CFR Part 6100. It lasted two years. ## What it did BLM manages about 245 million acres under the "multiple use and sustained yield" mandate of the [[Federal Land Policy and Management Act]] (FLPMA). Its **central move** was to treat **conservation as a "use"** within that framework, on the same footing as grazing, mining and energy development. That is a large change to how competing claims on the land get weighed. Its specific tools: - **Restoration and mitigation leases.** Third parties, such as conservation groups or companies offsetting damage elsewhere, could lease land to restore or protect it. These became the most contested part of the rule. - **Land Health Standards.** BLM had to assess land health across all its programs, on deadlines. - **Areas of Critical Environmental Concern.** Revised regulations moved toward a presumption in favor of designation. ## The fight and the rescission - **The suits.** Four suits challenged the 2024 rule: - Utah and Wyoming - Alaska - North Dakota with Idaho and Montana - an industry and agriculture coalition including the Western Energy Alliance Their core argument was that conservation leasing would lock up land FLPMA intended for production. - **The proposed rescission.** Interior under [[Doug Burgum]] published it at 90 FR 43990 on **Sept 11, 2025** (RIN 1004-AF03). - **The comments.** The final rule's preamble counts **138,161 submissions**, including 129,029 form letters. One local report put opposition to the rescission at nearly 98%. - **The final rescission.** It was published at **91 FR 25787 on May 12, 2026**, effective **June 11, 2026**, and removed Part 6100 entirely. BLM's stated grounds: - FLPMA's multiple-use definition does not make conservation a standalone use. - The leasing scheme exceeded its authority under FLPMA § 302. - **The new director.** The Senate confirmed former Rep. [[Stevan Pearce]] as **BLM Director** on **May 18, 2026**, by a 46–43 party-line vote. The state and industry suits are expected to wind down now that the rule is gone. As of Oct 1, 2026, no lawsuit challenging the rescission has been confirmed, though conservation groups were expected to sue. ## Why it matters Together, the rule and its rescission are the cleanest illustration in the vault that **the practical meaning of "multiple use" is set by regulation, not by statute**. FLPMA did not change between 2024 and 2026. Only the agency's reading of it did. Whoever controls Interior controls what the law means on about a tenth of the country's land. See [[Federal Land Management Crosswalk]] for how BLM's mandate compares with the Forest Service, Park Service and Fish and Wildlife Service, and [[William Perry Pendley]] for the previous Trump-term approach to BLM. ## See also - [[Federal Land Management Crosswalk]] · [[Bureau of Land Management]] · [[Federal Land Policy and Management Act]] - [[Roadless Rule]] · [[Resource Management Plan]] · [[Doug Burgum]] · [[Stevan Pearce]] · [[William Perry Pendley]]