The Trump administration has finalized its rescission of the Bureau of Land Management’s Public Lands Rule. Critics say the change weakens protections while prioritizing resource extraction from the country’s public lands.

More than 130,000 comments were submitted during the comment period for rescinding the rule, of which nearly 98% were opposed to the change.

Alice Weston, a community organizer for the Oregon Chapter of the Sierra Club, said the BLM is ignoring the broad opposition.

"People are saying they want their children to be able to recreate in these places, to hunt, to fish, to go out on their bike, hike, camp, and enjoy clean water and clean air," she said. "So these rules and these protections are something that help preserve our wild places for future generations."

The BLM manages more than 250 million acres of public land across the country, including nearly 25% of the total land in Oregon, largely east of the Cascades. The bureau has stated that revoking the rule will restore balance to land-management practices.

Finalized in 2024, Weston said, the Public Lands rule ensures Indigenous knowledge, conservation and cultural resources are considered alongside things such as mining, drilling and grazing. She said the BLM has limited public participation in the process by cutting the comment period short and failing to create public spaces where people can share their opinions.

"This is a clearly wildly unpopular and undemocratic process, and it's really disappointing," she said. "But I think also, people are going to continue to fight back."

Although the path forward is unclear, Weston said the Public Lands Rule has broad, bipartisan support. She added that she is inspired by the unity and creativity of Oregon's communities and leaders, who she said will keep fighting to protect the state's public lands.

Source: Public News Service