Proposed Repeal of the Conservation and Landscape Health Rule
Speak Up for America’s Public Lands: Comment on the Proposed Repeal of the Conservation and Landscape Health Rule
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has opened a public comment period on its proposal to rescind the 2024 Conservation and Landscape Health Rule. This Rule is a landmark policy designed to protect and restore the resilience of public lands across the United States.
The public can submit comments until November 10, 2025.
Submit your comment here →
The Conservation and Landscape Health Rule
The Conservation and Landscape Health Rule, finalized in May 2024, established a framework to guide management of the 245 million acres of public lands overseen by the BLM. The rule directs the agency to:
Protect the most intact, functioning landscapes,
Restore degraded ecosystems, and
Use science and data as the foundation for management decisions.
In other words, it recognizes that healthy ecosystems are essential for wildlife, clean water, carbon storage, and sustainable economies.
The new proposal would repeal that rule in its entirety, arguing that conservation is not a legitimate “use” of public land under federal law. If rescinded, the BLM would lose important tools for addressing habitat loss, drought, wildfire, and climate impacts, at the same time that these challenges are intensifying.
Why It Matters
BLM-managed lands support an extraordinary range of species, from migratory birds and pollinators to large mammals like elk and pronghorn. They also include headwaters and wetlands that sustain downstream communities.
Rescinding the 2024 rule would undermine efforts to:
Protect critical wildlife corridors and nesting grounds,
Maintain peatlands and rangelands that store vast amounts of carbon, and
Ensure public transparency and science-based decision-making.
Conservation ensures that public lands can continue to support wildlife, recreation, and resource use without losing what makes them valuable.
How to Comment
Anyone can submit a public comment through Regulations.gov. Personalized comments are most effective—especially when they explain why you care about healthy, functioning public lands.
Sample Comment (You Can Copy, Paste, and Personalize):
Subject: Support for Keeping the Conservation and Landscape Health Rule (BLM-2025-0001)
I oppose the Bureau of Land Management’s proposal to rescind the 2024 Conservation and Landscape Health Rule. This rule provides essential tools to protect and restore ecosystems that support wildlife, clean water, and resilient communities.
Conservation is not a “non-use”, it is a necessary and productive use of public lands that sustains every other use over time. The existing rule ensures that BLM decisions are grounded in science and balance, consistent with the Federal Land Policy and Management Act’s principles of multiple use and sustained yield.
As a member of the public who values these lands for their ecological, cultural, and recreational importance, I urge the BLM to retain and strengthen the Conservation and Landscape Health Rule, not repeal it.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment.
[Name]
[City, State]
Join Us in Speaking Up
Save the Rookery will be submitting its own organizational comment before the November 10 deadline, but public input from individuals makes a real difference.
Every comment helps show that Americans value healthy, connected, and resilient public lands.
📣 Add your voice:
🔗 https://www.regulations.gov/document/BLM-2025-0001-0001
Photo © Ganapathy Kumar / Unsplash