The U.S. Bureau of Land Management formally canceled the “Public Lands Rule,” Monday.
The rule required the agency to consider conservation and development equally in land-use decisions for millions of acres across the West, including more than 22 million acres in Utah. Officially known as the Conservation and Landscape Health Rule, it was a Biden-era rule that provided guidance for ensuring conservation received due consideration along with mining, timber, grazing, recreation or other uses on public lands.
The Utah News Dispatch reports officials said the change was necessary because the rule, “threatened to restrict productive use of the public lands and introduced uncertainty and unnecessary burdens in planning and permitting.”
The rule’s elimination comes alongside executive orders and other actions by the Trump administration to expand drilling, mineral production and other commercial uses of public lands.
