Conservation and Landscape Health Rule Resources

Landscape view looking across a vast golden plain filled with scrub and sagebrush with mountains in the distance. — Bilk Creek Mountains Dusk settles over the Bilk Creek Mountains, Denio, Nevada. © Ric Ergenbright / DanitaDelimont.com

In November 2024, the University of Wyoming's Ruckelshaus Institute—on behalf of The Nature Conservancy with funding from the Walton Family Foundation—convened a two-day, in-person, multi-stakeholder workshop examining the implications of the Bureau of Land Management’s proposed Conservation and Landscape Health Rule, also known as the Public Lands Rule. The workshop's roughly two dozen participants brought expertise in law, policy, economics, biology and ecology, restoration, communication, administration and land management. They represented interests that included the BLM, conservation, oil and gas development, local government and grazing.

The workshop began by trying to understand the social, ecological and political circumstances that led to the creation of the Public Lands Rule, then discussed, broadly, opportunities and barriers to increasing public and private investment in the conservation of public lands, particularly in the sagebrush sea. Small groups then turned to addressing specific questions posed by The Nature Conservancy, which sought to better understand parts of the rule, in particular restoration and mitigation leasing. The groups discussed the potential implications of the rule for various interest groups and, in some cases, brainstormed ways to achieve more mutually beneficial outcomes. Discussion prompts asked if and how restoration and mitigation leasing expands the currently available toolbox for conservation and what risks this work carries; what mechanisms exist or could be created to protect the interests of existing rights holders; and if and how restoration and mitigation leasing could provide economic benefit to rural communities and current public lands users.

Based on the workshop discussions and their own research, pre-selected workshop participants later prepared briefs responding to each discussion question, which are available below. The views expressed in these briefs are the authors’ own and do not reflect the views of the workshop participants or the convening, publishing or funding organizations.

Resources

Applying a Behavioral Lens to Public Comments on the Public Lands Rule

By Kate Mannle, Sania Ashraf, and Anam Tariq Download the PDF
Opportunities to Increase Private & Public Investment in Conservation

By Bryan Leonard Download the PDF
How to Kickstart a Restoration Economy in Western Communities

By Bryan Leonard Download the PDF
The Economics of Restoration and Mitigation Leasing on Public Lands

By Daniel Kaffine Download the PDF
A Comparison of How the Bureau of Land Management Authorizes Land Use

By Bailey Brennan Download the PDF
The Need for Clarity and Durability to Promote Restoration & Mitigation

By Sara Brodnax Download the PDF
Balancing Existing Rights with Restoration and Mitigation Leases

Shawn Regan Download the PDF
Legal & Conservation Risks & Rewards of Restoration Leasing on Public Land

Travis Brammer Download the PDF
A Toolbox for Collaborative, Landscape-Scale Restoration

By Alexander Hancock and Vicky Harder Download the PDF