[Impact Report] Over 216k comments from the public

Dear Peter,

You want to protect clean water sources on public lands.

You want to have abundant wildlife habitat on public lands.

You also want balanced decision-making about the future of public lands.

That’s why you spoke up and voiced support for the Bureau of Land Management’s proposed Public Lands Rule—a framework to help guide the agency towards balancing conservation with responsible development on the public lands it manages. During the rule’s open comment period, more than 216,000 comments were submitted by the public, including many Wilderness Society supporters like you—and an astounding 92% of those comments were in favor of the rule.

This outpouring of support for the public lands rule shows that people want conservation to be included alongside other multiple uses on public lands, and it shows how much they care about healthy land, water and wildlife. You can read more about the proposed rule here.

For decades, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has prioritized resource extraction and development on public lands, over conservation. In fact, 90% of BLM-managed lands are open to the oil and gas industry for leasing. The Public Lands Rule is intended to address this imbalance in the agency’s current regulations. Importantly, it will put conservation on equal footing with energy development and other uses of the approximately 245 million acres of public lands the agency manages in the West—public lands where millions of people hike, hunt, camp, fish and more every year.

This rule is still under consideration—and it’s facing a fight. House Republicans are pushing a bill that would require the director of the BLM to withdraw the Public Lands Rule and also prohibit the BLM from making conservation a priority. If they do this, they are silencing the voices of the 216,000 people who have spoken up about the rule.

The House Republican majority is pushing their own extremist, anti-conversation agenda—but they’re up against us … and all of you. We’ll be ready to escalate our efforts if this bill makes it past the House and to the Senate floor.

Thank you for all that you do to fight alongside us.

Sincerely,

Jyoti Stucky
Director, Digital Fundraising
The Wilderness Society

P.S. If you are able to make a tax-deductible monetary contribution to help The Wilderness Society continue fighting to protect invaluable public lands, you can do so here.