The US Department of the Interior has a nice little present for America: a new “Public Lands Rule” that will fundamentally change how the government manages public lands. For the first time ever the US will require that recreation, conservation, habitat preservation, and clean energy development balance out land use policy, which for most of US history has been aimed primarily at handing over parcels of public lands for commercial exploitation.

There’s good news and bad news. According to the National Economic Research Associates, the United States is awash in natural gas, enabling it to meet future corporate demand — if regulators allow companies to build pipelines. The same study says the country can export natural gas while keeping prices low at home.

Possible consolidation of parcels puts public land users on edge as concerns about access abound.

Despite assertions that rancher Cliven Bundy’s cattle are largely to blame for habitat destruction threatening desert tortoises near Gold Butte National Monument, it’s unlikely that a judge would rule to confiscate the cattle, according to a law professor who studies conservation and public lands law.

Authors surprised themselves at how earmarking federal land sale money for Nevada would pay such dividends for parks, trails and conservation.

What does the latest Colorado River proposal mean for California, Arizona, Nevada? The Silver State actually receives a drop in the bucket compared to Arizona and California

Arizona, Nevada, and California have offered to cut back on using water from the dwindling Colorado River in exchange for $1.2 billion in federal aid.   

The U.S. Department of the Interior proposed a new rule last week that would give conservation priorities equal weight in public land use decision-making — a change experts say constitutes one of the most significant land management policy moves in decades.