Biden administration moves to make conservation an equal to industry on US lands

By MATTHEW BROWN
Associated Press

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The Biden administration is moving to let conservationists lease government land for restoration. It’s part of an effort to make conservation an “equal” to other uses of public lands such as drilling and livestock grazing. Republican lawmakers contend the changes are a backdoor to excluding agricultural and energy development from vast areas primarily in the West. Administration officials have said conservation leases would not lock out other uses of U.S. Bureau of Land Management property. The agency oversees about 10% of all land in the U.S. and for more than a century has issued leases for drilling and permits for livestock grazing.