Conservation Named a Top Priority in Final Public Lands Rule (1)

Conservation is now defined as a “use” of public land in a rule the Interior Department finalized Thursday—a move widely expected to be challenged in court because Western states with oil, gas, and mineral resources fear it will stifle drilling and mining.

The Bureau of Land Management’s final Public Lands Rule requires officials managing federal land to prioritize protecting intact ecosystems and wildlife migration corridors. The rule governs roughly 245 million acres of federal land, mostly in the West, and is expected to inform the bureau’s approach to ecosystem protection, mining, grazing, logging, and oil and gas leasing across the ...