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The Bureau of Land Management's Public Lands Rule, which was finalized earlier this year, created a pathway to restoring degraded tracts of national public land. "Restoration leasing" will allow conservation groups to partner with the federal government to bring back landscapes in ways that benefit wildlife and ecosystems.
The rule acknowledges that conservation is a use of public lands, alongside extractive uses like mining and drilling. The idea is being praised in a New York Times op-ed from the conservative Property and Environment Research Center (PERC), a free-market group that has long supported paying landowners for conservation work.
Shawn Regan, PERC's vice president of research, points out that the BLM rule mirrors private habitat leasing that PERC started in 2021 to restore critical elk habitat in Montana's Paradise Valley. PERC paid a rancher to install wildlife-friendly fencing and eradicated invasive cheatgrass, providing winter food for Yellowstone's elk herds.
Regan called the BLM Public Lands Rule a "monumental, long-overdue step" that ensures "America's public lands aren't just leased to extract their resources, but also to conserve them as well."
Such high praise from a conservative group is a demonstration of the balance that BLM found in finalizing the rule. Progressive organizations like the Natural Resources Defense Council and Western Environmental Law Center also lauded the final rule. Barbara Chillcott, senior attorney at WELC, said the rule will "modernize public lands management for conservation and climate protection in the 21st Century."
At the end of the comment period for the draft Public Lands Rule, the Center for Western Priorities found that 92 percent of public comments supported the BLM rulemaking.
Podcast: The tiny fish that could save a desert community
In the latest episode of CWP's podcast, The Landscape, Kate and Aaron talk to Wyatt Myskow, reporter for Inside Climate News, about his reporting on the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Nevada, where the Devil's Hole pupfish is undergoing a rebrand from villain to hero.
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Visiting Canyonlands National Park or Deadhorse Point State Park (the most visited state park in Utah), and want to camp somewhere a little less crowded? Horsethief Campground is located nearby, and the surrounding BLM land is accessible for dispersed camping. That’s 
