The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has proposed a new rule called “Conservation and Landscape Health” designed to bolster the progress of managing public lands for multiple uses, by prioritizing the health and resilience of ecosystems across the country, according to the Federal Register.
“To ensure that health and resilience, the proposed rule provides that the BLM will protect intact landscapes, restore degraded habitat, and make wise management decisions based on science and data,” the Federal Register stated on its website on April 3.
The Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) of 1976 is a piece of legislation passed in the 94th Congress that is designed to "Establish public land policy; to establish guidelines for its administration; to provide for the management, protection, development, and enhancement of the public lands; and for other purposes.” The proposed rule applies land health standards to public lands and uses managed by BLM. It also clarifies that conservation is a “use” within FLPMA multi-use framework. The rule revises other existing regulations in an effort to meet FLPMA requirements pertaining to designating and protecting Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACECs.)
The Federal Newswire previously reported on the Biden Administration's attempts to conduct the 30X30 program. It has a stated goal of conserving, connecting and restoring 30% of the lands and waters across the U.S. by 2030.
"This includes the use of conservation easements to expand government ownership,” Federal Newswire’s report stated. “The agreements between landowners and the government allow for the permanent conservation of land while providing the landowner with a one-time tax deduction. Under these agreements, landowners agree to give up certain development rights on their property in exchange for the government assuming permanent control and ownership of the easements. This effectively allows the government to restrict certain activities on the land, such as development or mining, in order to protect natural resources and wildlife habitats.”
Congressman Dan Newhouse was against the proposed rule, saying that it is a ploy by the Biden Administration in an attempt to implement '30X30.' Newhouse also said he was for having a strict sunset rule to help future generations.
“The Biden Administration’s efforts to restrict resource development, grazing, timber harvesting, and recreation on public lands through the Bureau of Land Management’s proposed rule Conservation and Landscape Health is contrary to the Congressional intent of FLPMA and a backdoor attempt to implement their ‘30x30’ initiative,” U.S. Congressman Dan Newhouse said. “Given these ongoing efforts, ensuring conservation easements have strict sunsets is more important than ever; future generations should have the ability to determine future land use, not be forced into perpetual easements.
It was also reported by Federal Newswire how property rights advocates have proposed setting a limit or “sunset clause” on the amount of time federal easements may be on private properties. The limit would be 30 years to help the rights and voices of future landowners.
