The U.S. Bureau of Land Management finalized its controversial public lands rule on Thursday.

This rule is controversial because it allows for conservation leasing which advocates say puts conservation on equal footing with fossil fuel extraction and grazing. In addition to allowing conservation leasing, the rule calls on the BLM to designate more Areas of Critical Environmental Concern, which can help protect sacred sites and resources as well as wildlife habitat. These ACECs are designated to protect site-specific resources, which means the activities allowed in a particular ACEC may be different from those allowed in another. However, they can also provide economic benefits to a community in terms of bringing in tourism.

Because of the conservation leasing proposal and the focus on ACECs, Republicans at the national level have fought against this rule, including introducing legislation in an attempt to force the BLM to withdraw it.

Among the Republicans leading the effort is Utah Representative John Curtis who said in a press release that it “undermines the very people who rely on our federal lands for ranching, grazing, recreation, and beyond.”

Curtis has expressed concern that the rule will cut off access to public lands and prioritize conservation over other uses. 

The BLM directly addresses these concerns in its final rule.

While it allows for conservation leasing, the BLM states that the rule does not place conservation above other uses of public lands nor will a conservation lease preclude other uses of the public lands from occurring. That means people will still be able to recreate in a sustainable manner on lands that are leased for conservation purposes. Those conservation purposes could be preservation of resources or restoration efforts.

Environmental groups hailed the rule.

“This rule amounts to a generation-defining shift in how we manage our shared natural resources,” Jamie Williams, president of The Wilderness Society, said in a press release. 

Williams said the BLM manages the “biggest slice” of federal lands and the new rule is “putting it on the books officially that they will no longer be neglected or treated as just a source of oil and coal.”

“These lands will also be stewarded as sanctuary for wildlife, stronghold for Indigenous cultural sites, haven for outdoor recreation and engine for a robust and responsible clean energy revolution,” Williams said. “At last, the agency has the tools needed to live up to the balanced approach set by Congress when it defined the mission of the BLM in 1976. Now it’s time we get to work implementing the public lands rule at BLM offices across the West, working closely with Tribes and local communities to tackle crises like climate change, biodiversity loss and lack of access to the outdoors.” 

U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, a Democrat representing New Mexico, said public lands are central to the way of life in the state. 

“We value them for their deep history and cultural meaning, their scenic natural beauty, and the many ways we enjoy them – from hiking and camping to hunting and fishing,” he said. “BLM oversees the largest share of our public lands, including cherished places like the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks and Rio Grande del Norte National Monuments. This new rule will help BLM better manage our public lands in the face of a changing climate, protect watersheds that provide clean drinking water, and conserve important wildlife habitat.

The rule is part of a greater effort to protect lands in the face of climate change.

“As stewards of America’s public lands, the Interior Department takes seriously our role in helping bolster landscape resilience in the face of worsening climate impacts,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a press release. “Today’s final rule helps restore balance to our public lands as we continue using the best-available science to restore habitats, guide strategic and responsible development, and sustain our public lands for generations to come.” 

Under the rule, groups will be able to lease lands to restore them. This could help areas around Chaco Culture National Historical Park that are dense in cultural resources and have also been deeply impacted by the extractive industries.

“With almost 90 percent of New Mexico BLM lands open to oil and gas leasing, the Public Lands Rule’s emphasis on conservation is not just important, it’s essential,” Mark Allison, executive director of New Mexico Wild, said in a press release. “This commonsense rule gives the BLM tools to protect cultural treasures like 8,000-year-old petroglyphs on the Caja del Rio plateau and the Greater Chaco Canyon landscape, as well as areas of ecological significance like Otero Mesa, home to the largest remaining Chihuahuan Desert grassland in the country. As climate change and development pressures increase, the rule balances extractive uses with conservation, safeguarding public lands like these for future generations.”

The BLM states that the rule will help the agency build and maintain resilient ecosystems on public lands by protecting intact and functioning landscapes, restoring degraded habitat and ecosystems and implementing science and data as the foundation for management decisions.

This is important because, the agency states, ecosystems that collapse because of disturbance are unable to benefit people by providing clean air and water, food, wildlife habitat and carbon storage. 

The rule requires that the agency takes appropriate actions if a specific land use contributes to the area failing to achieve land health. Resource management plans can help guide those actions. 

The agency gives the example of lands that are available for solar development under a resource management plan. In that scenario, appropriate actions would not include banning solar development, but may include measures that will minimize or compensate for the impacts of those renewable energy projects.

“For too long our nation’s land managers have placed too much emphasis on resource extraction above all other viable uses of public lands,” New Mexico Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard said in a press release. “It’s great to see the BLM propose a rule that finally puts conservation of our land and natural resources on par with other uses. I strongly support BLM’s proposed rule because it prioritizes conservation and it is the most comprehensive and inclusive approach to land management to date.”