Advocates for the West, Partners move to intervene again to defend Public Lands Rule

After taking similar legal action in two other cases in recent months, Advocates for the West and our partners at the Conservation Lands Foundation and The Wilderness Society filed a motion to intervene to defend the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Public Lands Rule against a lawsuit brought this past summer by the State of Alaska in Alaska federal district court. 

The conservation groups argue that the Public Lands Rule will help modernize the management practices of the BLM and ensure that the agency has the tools to meet future challenges, like growing pressure from climate change, and to restore public lands from the impacts of development. These groups celebrated the finalization of the rule, which was overwhelmingly supported by the public during the comment period, and are now engaging to defend it from attacks. 

Conservation Lands Foundation and The Wilderness Society are represented by Advocates for the West and Kaplan Kirsch LLP.

“It’s long past time to turn the page on letting extractive industries control use of our treasured western public lands,” said Todd Tucci, Senior Attorney with Advocates for the West. “In adopting the Public Lands Rule, BLM has pursued a common-sense approach to future land management that includes a greater focus on conservation and meeting the challenges of a rapidly changing climate. Instead of wasting time on this meritless lawsuit, the State of Alaska should help ensure the ecological health and resilience of our public lands by allowing BLM to fulfill its duty to balanced management.”

“The State of Alaska is trying to let big fossil fuel, mining, and other development interests decide how we use our natural resources. The BLM Public Lands Rule, meanwhile, seeks the balanced approach prescribed for the agency by Congress almost a half-century ago,” said Alison Flint, Senior Legal Director at The Wilderness Society. “The Wilderness Society has worked for nearly 90 years to defend public lands in Alaska and throughout the Western United States. That requires us to vigorously defend the Public Lands Rule so we can meet the urgent challenges of our changing climate, including protecting Alaska’s unsurpassed wildlife habitat and unique ways of life.”   

“This lawsuit against the Rule appears to be motivated by a puzzling fear of implementing existing law – the Federal Land Policy and Management Act – and an unwillingness to recognize today’s realities,” said Charlotte Overby, Vice President of Conservation Field Programs at the Conservation Lands Foundation. “This new guidance will improve ecological and climate resilience, and provide the tools managers need to restore habitat from wildfires, erosion and melting permafrost, and other negative impacts. It also keeps important recreation areas – that are local economic engines and subsistence hunting grounds – open and accessible to the public. Supporters of the Public Lands Rule include legal experts, western lawmakers, local elected officials, and governors who participated in a robust public process, and more than 90% of public comments were in support of this sensible Rule.”

Background

The legal action comes on the heels of motions to intervene filed by the same conservation groups, along with Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA), in two other lawsuits filed by the states of Utah, Wyoming, North Dakota, Idaho, and Montana challenging the Public Lands Rule. 

The Public Lands Rule went into effect in June after a year-long process to engage the public in its development. The Rule establishes a “framework to ensure healthy landscapes, abundant wildlife habitat, clean water, and balanced decision-making on our nation’s public lands.”

Read more about these cases.