Badlands News: Public Lands Rule
Public Lands Rule Comment Period
The Public Lands Rule comment period ends on Monday, November 10th, 2025.
Submit your comments to the Federal Register.
In 2024, the Bureau of Land Management published a fact sheet about the Public Lands Rule that categorized the effects of the rule in three ways. The Public Lands Rule:
Promotes restoration of our public lands and water.
Supports informed decision-making for balanced, responsible development.
Protects the best intact, healthy landscapes.
The October 10th article from Re:Public Lands Media titled “No Comment” has helpful background information on the public comment process, including the myriad laws (and their potentially confusing acronyms) that guide the mechanics of federal decision making, notably: the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA). Author Christopher Keyes also provides details on the Public Lands Rule.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, whose priorities include “Unleashing American Energy,” said in a September 2025 press release that the Biden-era Public Lands Rule “had the potential to block access to hundreds of thousands of acres of multiple-use land – preventing energy and mineral production, timber management, grazing and recreation across the West.”
The Daily Montanan described the opposition to the initial rollout of the Public Lands Rule, saying that “the rule drew the ire of industry groups and politicians across the west, including Burgum, then-Gov. of North Dakota, and Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte, who along with the state of Idaho sued the federal government over the conservation rule.” The overturn of the Public Lands Rule was also praised by the President and CEO of the National Mining Association, Rich Nolan.
The National Parks Conservation Association says that the purpose of the Public Lands Rule is “to address a historic imbalance that leaves 80% of BLM land open to oil and gas development and vast areas open to mining, often at the expense of public access and conservation uses.”
As the BLM wrote in 2024, “The rule follows explicit direction in the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) to protect and preserve lands in their natural condition, where appropriate.”
Jennifer Rokala, executive director of the Center for Western Priorities, said that the repeal of the Public Lands Rule effectively “tipped the scales back to the 19th century, when robber barons ran the country, exploiting our lands for personal gain.” The Center for Western Priorities analyzed comments from the 2023 public comment period for the Public Lands Rule and found that 92 percent of the comments supported the rule.
Jackie Feinberg of the Sierra Club noted that the Public Lands Rule “makes clear that conservation—access to nature, cultural resource protection, wildlife habitat, and climate action—is an essential use too.”
Senior legal director at The Wilderness Society Alison Flint reaffirms the fact that “the Public Lands Rule was informed by many months of thoughtful public engagement and review, and it has solid grounding in a nearly 50-year-old directive from Congress.”
The History and Future of America’s Public Land with Walt Dabney
Walt Dabney in his sweatshirt from BCA's new online store. Dabney is wearing our Allmade hoodie in Night Sky Navy.
Thanks to everyone who joined us on our three-night film screening and discussion series with Walt Dabney on October!
You can find Dabney's presentation, The History and Future of America's Public Land, on YouTube. Photos from the October events are up on our blog.
Walt Dabney spoke with Brad Dokken of the Grand Forks Herald and Mary Steurer of the North Dakota Monitor, who joined us for the Bear Creek hike.
“I’m on the road a lot,” said Walt Dabney in his conversation with Brad Dokken. “This isn’t a business, this is – I don’t know what – a calling, maybe, but I really believe in it, and I’m scared to death of the next generations not having the same opportunities we had.”
Badlands News
National Parks Conservation Association: "Secretary Burgum, Tell Us Why"
The Forum: "Reversal of North Dakota land management plan reopens millions of acres to energy development"
The Dickinson Press: "Road Closed: travel distance from Medora to the Petrified Forest has nearly tripled"
The Forum: "Medora plans for ND’s biggest bash in years, the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library opening"
The Bismarck Tribune: "North Dakota commits $45M to enhanced oil recovery projects"
The Bismarck Tribune: "Basin Electric's new North Dakota gas plant in service; another on the way"
RE:PUBLIC: "What’s the Trump Administration’s End Game for the National Parks?"
The Atlantic: "Trump Is Setting the National Parks Up to Fail"
National Geographic: "Why you should visit the rugged North Dakota Badlands in 2026"