May 21, 2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 21, 2026
MEDIA CONTACT: Haleemah Atobiloye (she/her) | Communications Strategist | (202) 350-1372 | haleemaha@cehn.org
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WASHINGTON DC — On Monday, May 11, the Bureau of Land Management rescinded the Conservation and Landscape Health Rule (also known as the BLM Public Lands Rule), undermining the Bureau of Land Management’s multiple-use mandate to manage our public lands for the benefit of present and future generations. House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition Co-Chairs called the move, “a devastating attack on our public lands and the freedom for our children and future generations to explore the great outdoors.”
The America The Beautiful For All Coalition identified the implementation of the Conservation and Landscape Health Rule as a Coalition Policy Priority in 2023, 2024, and before the Rule was repealed, its retention was highlighted in the 2026 Coalition Policy Priorities. The Coalition also published a short documentary detailing the significance of the rule for New Mexico families, issued a formal thank you letter to the Department of Interior supporting the rule in April 2024, and engaged coalition members at a November 2025 webinar teaching viewers how to submit a public comment on the proposed rollback. Coupled with this move, former Congressman Steve Pearce has been confirmed as Director of the Bureau of Land Management, requiring great vigilance from our community as he assumes leadership of the agency.
In response, members of the America The Beautiful For All Coalition issue the following statements:
“The Bureau of Land Management is undermining a valuable public service by ripping away the Public Lands Rule and its Restoration and Mitigation Lease Program. This state of the art management tool would’ve allowed the agency to benefit from citizen labor enhancing ecosystem services on our public lands. This is a clarion call to the private and philanthropic sector: invest in workers who restore our natural areas and mitigate the impacts of construction and greenhouse gas emissions,” said Mark Magaña, GreenLatinos Founding President and CEO, AtB4A Coalition Co-Chair
"Repealing the Public Lands Rule is a direct assault on the shared landscapes that sustain our communities, wildlife, and ways of life,” said Kara Matsumoto, Senior Policy Director at the Conservation Lands Foundation and Co-Lead of the Public Lands Workgroup of the America the Beautiful for All Coalition. “By stripping away these vital conservation tools, this administration is willfully ignoring the overwhelming majority of Americans who demanded strong stewardship of lands and waters during the public comment process. Rescinding the Public Lands Rule is more than bad policy—it's a calculated step toward privatizing the very lands the Bureau of Land Management is legally mandated to manage on behalf of all Americans. We'll continue working with local communities across the country to ensure that public lands remain healthy, whole, and accessible to everyone.”
“In response to the Department of the Interior repealing the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Conservation and Landscape Health Rule, the League of Conservation Voters released the following statement from the Conservation Program Director, America Fitzpatrick: “The Conservation and Landscape Health Rule was critical to putting conservation on equal footing with oil and gas drilling on our public lands. By repealing it today, this administration has once again tipped the scales further in favor of their Big Oil buddies. With the rescinding of this rule, this administration has also deemed Tribal consultation as unnecessary to this decision and is ignoring years of community input, Indigenous knowledge, science, and interests of a broad range of stakeholders, in yet another attempt to sell-off and privatize our public lands. Instead of further handcuffing us to be more dependent on fossil fuels while handing over protected lands to the highest bidder, the administration should focus on prioritizing cleaner, more affordable and more reliable energy sources like clean energy,” said America Fitzpatrick, League of Conservation Voters Conservation Program Director.
“Public lands provide us the freedom to explore the great outdoors. Congress directed the BLM to manage public lands in a way that balances uses like outdoor recreation with needs as varied as grazing, energy development and conservation of wildlife habitat. The administration’s rescission of the BLM Public Lands Rule flouts both the agency’s legal mandate and the overwhelming wishes of the American people for public lands to be managed in a balanced and sustainable way that conserves special places for future generations,” said Alison Flint, acting vice president for federal policy at The Wilderness Society.
“It's no surprise the Trump administration repealed the BLM Public Lands Rule,” said Jewel Tomasula, National Policy Director at the Endangered Species Coalition and Co-Lead of the Wildlife Workgroup of the America the Beautiful for All coalition. “From public land sell offs to wildlife refuge sell outs, the Trump administration continues to put extractive industry interests ahead of cherished animals and plants, science, and the overwhelming public support for conservation. Repealing the Public Lands Rule reverses course on efforts to restore damaged landscapes and safeguard hundreds of endangered species.”
“After gutting the staff and funding for America’s public lands, the Trump administration is now rigging the system so oil and gas CEOs and corporate insiders can call the shots,” said Drew McConville, Senior Fellow with the Center for American Progress. “By eliminating basic conservation requirements for nearly 250 million acres of public lands, this action effectively gives drilling and mining priority over the long-term health of our lands and waters.”
“Repealing the Public Lands Rule is the clearest example yet that the Trump administration will stop at nothing to sell out our country’s precious landscapes to private industry. The rule simply acknowledged the fact that conservation on public lands has value, but even that was too much for Trump and his billionaire backers to tolerate. By now, the administration’s playbook is clear – disregard the will of the American people, refuse to protect our public lands, hand control over to corporate polluters, then dispose of these landscapes entirely. If they’re allowed to succeed, the natural heritage we pass onto the next generation will be defined by locked gates, ‘no trespassing’ signs, and irreversible pollution.” - Athan Manuel, director of Sierra Club’s Lands Protection Program
"Repealing the Public Lands Rule is a direct attack on the outdoor recreation industry in rural communities across the country. Landscapes along the Continental Divide Trail will be threatened by the Bureau of Land Management's willful ignorance of the fundamental connection between conservation and recreation, and the beloved places where Americans hike, camp, fish, ride horses, and so much more will be less protected as a result of this repeal." - Teresa Martinez, Continental Divide Trail Coalition
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About Us
America the Beautiful for All (AtB4A) is a 300+ member coalition working at the nexus of conservation, environmental justice, and public health. We unite advocates across missions, ecosystems, communities, and cultures to lift up community-led solutions, transcend silos, shift power, and ensure that every person, no matter who they are or where they live, can drink safe water, breathe fresh air, and thrive in the spaces that make our country and its territories beautiful.
