Interior Department Eliminates Rule That Made Conservation a Use of Public Lands

The department said the 2024 rule was contrary to the Bureau of Land Management’s mandate and statutory authority.

Fish Creek through the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, managed by the Bureau of Land Management on Alaska's North Slope, on July 8, 2004. David W. Houseknecht/United States Geological Survey via AP

The Department of the Interior repealed a Biden-era regulation on May 11 that had placed conservation on par with drilling, mining, and grazing on roughly 245 million acres of federal public land.

The 2024 rule allowed public property to be leased for restoration in the same way that oil companies lease land for drilling. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in September 2025 that the rule could have blocked access to hundreds of thousands of acres (hectares) of land, preventing energy and timber production and hurting ranchers who graze on public lands.