Bob Wick, Bureau of Land Management
July 5 doesn’t typically get as much fanfare as the patriotic festival the day before, but there was much to celebrate this year. Here’s why: we moved one step closer toward achieving the biggest public lands rule in two decades.
While the National Park Service occupies a special place in the public’s imagination, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is quietly one of the most consequential land management agencies in the United States, overseeing about 240 million acres of lands and waters across the country. And for most of its history, BLM has managed those lands and waters to favor resource extraction above all other uses.
That preferential treatment for extraction has made a lopsided policy that locked up millions of acres into oil and gas development and mining that could be used for public recreation, preserved as habitat for wildlife, or simply conserved for the next generation. But instead of hiking trails and campsites, these landscapes are dotted with oil derricks.
Earlier this year, the Biden Administration began a process that could rebalance those policies and recognize conservation as a valid use of public lands and waters equal to development. They also launched a similar process through the United States Forest Service to rebalance the management of old-growth and mature trees and forests on public lands. The public response was massive. A diverse coalition of Tribes, environmental organizations, and outdoor industry groups mobilized to support the proposed rule. It even went viral on TikTok, with more than a quarter-million people learning about the rulemaking from a single social media video!
After more than two months of gathering input on the proposed new rule, it looks like the public is on the side of conservation. The administration received more than 215,000 comments on the proposed rule. Of those comments, nearly 10% came from Sierra Club members and supporters. That’s public engagement that we haven’t seen since the Roadless Rule was announced under the Clinton Administration. Those hundreds of thousands of comments could be the difference makers encouraging BLM to follow through on this process and finalize a strong public lands rule.
Our work isn’t over. BLM still needs to finalize the rule, which could take weeks or months. But we’re in a better position to protect public lands than we’ve been in twenty years, and that’s because of the activists who added their names and called on the Biden Administration to rebalance this lopsided policy. Moreover, the USFS process is continuing through July 20. If you haven't made your voice heard yet, there's still a chance.
As always, it’s because of people like you that we’ve come this far. And like the Roadless Rule before, in twenty years, we could look back on this moment as the critical point in preserving public lands and waters for generations to come.