Our public lands are the foundation of healthy watersheds and strong communities. From remote trout streams to working forests and rangelands, these places provide clean water, vital trout habitat, sporting opportunity and public access for all Americans. But pressures like efforts to sell off and privatize public land threaten what makes them so valuable.
This blog series highlights the people and places at the heart of these landscapes—and the practical, local perspectives keeping them accessible, productive and resilient for generations to come.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is at the center of a seismic shift in how America manages its public land energy resources. From sweeping regulatory reforms to legislative reversals, the past 10 months have redefined the balance between energy development and conservation. It’s important to understand how these changes will reshape our public lands and the serious concerns they raise for native and wild trout conservation.
Why it matters
Oil and gas leasing on public lands has always been a flashpoint in U.S. energy policy. It touches everything from rural economies to watersheds and wildlife corridors.
Recent rollbacks to the leasing program; the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) and BLM’s constrained authority to impose new safeguards, have created a complex policy landscape. For example, in Colorado’s 2025 Q4 lease sale, the BLM couldn’t comply with Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s request for added seasonal development restrictions on spawning fish due to the requested safeguard not being in the existing land use plan for that area. Even more troubling, the Department of Interior (DOI) has stated it does not plan to conduct environmental analyses for onshore oil and gas lease sales mandated by the new laws.
The lack of critical safeguards means that our public lands – and sensitive, coldwater habitats that support trout – are at risk from energy development in sensitive habitats.
Modernization of the onshore oil and gas leasing program
In April 2024, BLM finalized rules, marking the first comprehensive overhaul of federal onshore leasing regulations in nearly four decades. These common-sense reforms were driven by provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and decades of advocacy for reform. Importantly, the changes prioritized leasing in areas with existing infrastructure and high development potential, reducing pressure on sensitive aquatic and terrestrial habitats and cultural resources. The updates allowed responsible energy development and domestic energy independence while also protecting the clean, cold waters that trout and salmon rely on.
But then…
On July 4, 2025, Congress passed OBBBA, a bill that reversed several provisions and introduced new mandates favoring accelerated leasing and development.
Under the OBBBA, the historical 12.5 percent royalty rate for new public land leases was restored, reducing costs for operators, yet costing taxpayers over $367 million in lost revenue and rising. The bill mandates lease sales in all major producing states, including trout-rich regions like Wyoming and Montana, opening over 200 million surface acres for access to industry.
Recent policy changes raise significant concerns, particularly the reinstatement of non-competitive leasing and the removal of the nominal fee to nominate a parcel for lease. Combined with potential disregard for National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requirements, it’s easy to see how this will result in speculative leasing, which will push lease sales into sensitive native and wild trout habitats.
Our analysis indicates that approximately 32.7 million acres of native trout habitat on public land are now open to leasing in Alaska, Colorado, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. This includes more than 17.6 million acres within TU’s Priority Waters.
These recent policy shifts have severely limited BLM’s options and the agency’s ability to incorporate new, local information, thereby dramatically changing our public land landscapes. Leasing is an irretrievable commitment of resources conveying a right to development of the lease. Even if leases go undeveloped, they are managed for oil and gas as the priority use over other important multiple uses like hunting, angling, outdoor recreation and fish and wildlife habitat.
Lease sales and coldwater fisheries
Looking ahead, Wyoming BLM is scoping over a ¼ million acres for its June 2026 sale. Scoping identified overlaps with coldwater fisheries and native trout habitats—resources vital to Wyoming’s outdoor economy and ecological integrity of native and wild trout streams. While stipulations for riparian buffers and seasonal drilling restrictions are under consideration, OBBBA’s leasing cadence and eligibility definitions limit BLM’s ability to exclude parcels outright. This sets up a potential flashpoint between outdoor recreationists, other non-extractive industries and private companies leasing these lands under 10-year terms. Under previous rules, the BLM might have deferred leasing in sensitive habitats to protect riparian areas and watersheds.
Next steps
Public lands oil and gas leasing is entering a new era—one marked by ignored public input, competing mandates and heightened stakes for protecting native and wild trout.
For decades, Trout Unlimited has taken a pragmatic approach to build community, safeguard cold, clean water and restore damaged landscapes. Public lands drive the outdoor recreation economy, often rivaling or surpassing oil and gas in job creation across the West. Fishing, hunting, and camping generate billions in revenue and support thousands of small businesses. By investing in resilient communities and healthy landscapes, we create sustainable jobs that outlast boom-and-bust cycles.
Stay tuned and go to www.tu.org/oilandgasreform for more information.