Americans overwhelmingly support BLM conservation rules

Putting the country on the path of protecting at least 30 percent of our land and 30 percent of our ocean areas by 2030 (30x30) is imperative to preserving public spaces especially now as the worst megadrought in at least 1200 years is driving desertification in much of the western United States. A supermajority of registered voters in the Mountain West agrees according to bipartisan polling conducted by the Colorado College State of the Rockies project. 

Now, conservation is center stage as the Department of Interior and Bureau of Land Management plan to sell preservation leases to parties interested in environmental protection.

The Center for Western Priorities performed a sentiment analysis on a random sample of 10,000 public comments submitted to regulations.gov as of the morning of July 5, 2023, in the closing hours of a 90-day public comment period. CWP’s analysis found 92 percent of the comments encouraged the Interior Department to adopt the Public Lands Rule as written or strengthen its conservation measures. 4.5 percent of comments encouraged the department to withdraw or significantly weaken the rule. Another 3.5 percent of comments did not express a clear opinion in support or opposition to the rule. The statistical analysis has a margin of error of ±0.5 percent. [Center for Western Priorities]

Look West: Analysis finds overwhelming support for proposed Public Lands Rule - https://t.co/jkF6HHmuuK pic.twitter.com/QzdSXFqLZL

— Western Priorities (@WstrnPriorities) July 10, 2023