The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has finalized its rule for the management of multiple uses on public lands, which includes livestock grazing. Ag groups expressed concerns with the rule, arguing the changes will result in more restrictive land management and increase conflict between multiple uses.
The Public Lands Rule builds on the America the Beautiful initiative, the Biden administration’s plan to protect and conserve land and water. The rule establishes restoration and mitigation leases and clarifies practices to designate and protect areas of critical environmental concern (ACEC).
“From the most rugged backcountry spots to popular close-to-home recreation areas, these reforms will help deliver cleaner water, healthier lands, abundant wildlife, and more recreation opportunities for all of us,” said White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Brenda Mallory in a statement.
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and Public Lands Council (PLC) said the rule makes “serious additions” to the leasing structure for federal lands without congressional input.
“Changes that aren’t based in law not only compromise the security of grazing on the landscape but make cohesive management much more challenging,” said NCBA President Mark Eisele in a joint news release with PLC.
The ag groups said the final rule runs counter to the BLM’s multiple use mandate under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, which requires the agency to balance the multiple uses of lands that include grazing, recreation, energy, mining and timber.
“The ‘Conservation and Landscape Health’ rule rearranges agency priorities by putting a new, single use on equal footing with long established uses that Congress explicitly directed,” the groups said.
In addition, they continued, the rule places an “outsized focus” on the use of ACEC designations that have “compromised land and water health across the West.”
This has resulted in “a framework that gives the BLM more restrictive land management, increased conflict on the landscape, and an increased difficulty in delivering on the agency mission and programs to stakeholders across the West,” the groups said.
Rule updates
The final rule was first proposed last April and has sparked continuous contention within the ag community. The agency received more than 200,000 comments on the rule, which it says were vastly in favor of the rule.
The final rule addresses three key concepts:
• Directs BLM to manage for landscape health.
• Restores and protects public lands through restoration and mitigation leases.
• Clarifies the designation and management of ACECs.
The first concept directs BLM to manage public land uses “in accordance with the fundamentals of land health” which it says will support soils, plants, water, ecosystems and wildlife habitats. The second concept clarifies who can obtain a restoration or mitigation lease, limiting potential lessees to individuals, businesses, non-governmental organizations, Tribal governments, conservation districts, or state fish and wildlife agencies. These leases would be issued or denied at BLM’s discretion.
BLM uses the example of a potential restoration lease allowing a non-profit group or conservation district to restore wildlife habitat, with the assurance that “the work could take hold and flourish.” The agency said leases would not be issued if they would conflict with existing authorized users.
The third concept provides more details about how the agency will prioritize the designation and protection of ACECs. “The final rule clarifies how BLM consideration of new ACEC nominations and temporary management options does not interfere with the BLM’s discretion to continue advancing pending project applications,” BLM said.
NCBA and PLC, along with more than 60 other local and national ag groups, submitted comments to BLM prior to the rule’s finalization, highlighting concerns with the rule’s implications on the relationship between public lands permittees and federal agencies.
“Ecosystem services like wildfire mitigation, cutting down on invasive species, sequestering carbon, improving wildlife habitat, and preserving open green space for recreation are essential contributions of the Western ranching industry—not to mention the $2.1 billion in economic output attributable to livestock grazing on BLM land,” the groups finished.
The rule had not yet been posted in the Federal Register by WLJ press time. — Anna Miller, WLJ managing editor
