Land Core Submits Comments to BLM on Proposed Conservation and Landscape Health Rule
Submitted to: Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management
Re: Request for Public Comment on the Proposed Rule on Conservation and Landscape Health (Doc. No. 2023-06310)
Date: July 5, 2023
Land Core is pleased to provide input on the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) proposed Conservation and Landscape Health rule.
An Opportunity to Rebuild Resilient, Productive Landscapes on Public Lands
We commend the BLM for initiating a plan to strengthen the management of our public lands and prioritize the health and resilience of ecosystems by protecting intact landscapes, restoring degraded habitat, and encouraging sound management decisions based on science and data. The proposed Conservation and Landscape Health Rule is an essential measure for BLM to uphold its mission to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of America’s public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.
With a prolonged megadrought in the Western US (where the vast majority of BLM lands are), the spread of invasive species, loss of functional water cycles, soil degradation, and the increasing frequency and intensity of wildfires, landscape restoration efforts are more essential than ever for the public and economic health of the West and the nation. These issues are exacerbated by climate change but are heavily shaped by land management. In particular, the urgent need and opportunity to focus efforts on rebuilding soil health and ecosystem function across BLM lands is key to fostering healthy, resilient landscapes and economic prosperity for all communities that interact with our public lands.
This rule has the potential to encourage responsible management of our public lands across all uses. However, the current draft of the proposed rule does not, in our opinion, leverage the enormous potential conservation benefits associated with well-managed grazing as a key conservation and land restoration tool. In addition to the potential conservation benefits, an explicit framing of this rule as an unprecedented expansion of the invaluable partnership between American ranchers and the BLM would go a long way towards acknowledging the importance and opportunity for a mutually beneficial future by working together.
Our comments elaborate on how and why the Department of Interior and the BLM might reframe the perceived conflict between conservation and ranching to acknowledge and incentivize the opportunity to use the best standards for well-managed grazing for landscape restoration in partnership with ranchers, creating not only a win-win for the agency, ranchers, and national food security, but also a blueprint for the future of public-private partnerships in the pursuit of economically beneficial conservation.
To ensure that grazing under the new conservation leases, as well as on existing allotments, consistently leads to improved land health outcomes across BLM lands, we recommend that: 1) new conservation leases involving grazing should specify regenerative goals/outcomes while existing leases should incorporate these principles; 2) DOI should expand access to leading knowledge, skills and training for both land stewards and agency staff; 3) monitoring and verification efforts should be strengthened; and 4) incentive-based approaches should be considered and implemented where appropriate.
We hope that by actively and visibly prioritizing regenerative grazing management systems as a primary tool for conservation restoration, US ranchers can be clearly identified as a trusted partner of BLM, ushering in a new generation of grazing stewardship.
View our full comments on regulations.gov or as a PDF.
For further information, please contact Aria McLauchlan, Executive Director.
Land Core is a 501(c)3 organization with a mission to advance soil health policies and programs that create value for farmers, businesses and communities. The organization is building the missing infrastructure and market-based incentives that will make the rapid adoption and scalability of soil health possible.