Right now, Congress is working to throw out a crucial regulation that modernizes how the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) conducts planning on our public lands. This bill threatens outdoor recreation on 245 million acres of our public lands, including iconic places like Westwater Canyon, Moab’s Porcupine Rim Trail, Oregon’s Sandy Ridge Trail System, and countless others.

In December, the BLM finalized its Planning 2.0 initiative—the regulation now under attack. Planning 2.0 opened up a whole new level of public participation, creating a more transparent process that gives lots of opportunities for the people who love public lands to shape how those lands are managed. It also does a much better job of recognizing the importance of recreation, including for local economies, and greatly improves the agency’s ability to handle data. Right now, some members of Congress are upset because they see that this new initiative could undercut the privileged position of extractive interests on public lands.

Right now, Congress is considering throwing out this rule in its entirety using a rarely-used law called the Congressional Review Act. The Congressional Review Act lets Congress overturn the decisions made by federal agencies within 60 days. Congress is currently using this law to roll back important environmental safeguards.

Land planning is important because it governs what uses are allowed and where they are allowed on our public lands. Planning is also the headwaters for new protective designations like Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers. BLM Planning 2.0 modernizes the process of developing Resource Management Plans for BLM lands in an analogous way to the improvements made in Forest Planning under the 2012 Planning Rule. In particular, Planning 2.0 directs planners to engage in a much broader data collection from the public and other users. This means that land management agencies can better understand where people go on our public lands, why they go there, and the experiences that are a part of what makes these places so special.

The vote to roll back BLM’s thoughtful and recreation-friendly new planning process could be on the floor of both the House and the Senate as early as the beginning of next week. The bill numbers are S.J. Res. 15 and H.J. Res. 44. Please use this link to reach out to your Senators and Congressperson and tell them to protect modern land management planning on public lands.