If I told you that a federal agency had dismissed voluntary conservation on the grounds that environmental protection should be done only by government planners and regulators, you'd be forgiven for thinking I was referring to a previous administration. But the Biden administration actually endorsed conservation leasing, a free market approach to reduce conflict and litigation over federal land. In rescinding those policies, the Trump administration's Department of the Interior is embracing its inner statism.
In 2024, the Bureau of Land Management adopted the Public Lands Rule, which allowed conservation groups to lease public land for conservation, just as ranchers, energy companies, and many other interests do. The goal was to put conservation on an equal footing with other uses and give conservation groups a voluntary, free market alternative to lobbying and litigation to pursue their interests. The Biden administration also hoped to promote cooperation over conflict, with one official telling Congress that the "key to the success" of the program would be conservation groups paying ranchers and other public-land users for voluntary stewardship.
