FLPMA Explained: The Vital Law That Says Your Public Lands Belong to You

Every fight over drilling, mining, logging, and land transfers on BLM land comes back to this law. Most Americans have never heard of it. Here's how you can protect it.

If you’ve followed any public lands fight in the past year, you’ve seen the acronym without knowing it. The Dalton Corridor land transfer in Alaska. The CRA attacks on resource management plans in Montana, North Dakota, and Utah. The March 31 oil and gas lease sales in Utah and Colorado. The Oregon old-growth timber plans. The entire debate over whether public lands should be kept, sold, transferred, or stripped for parts.

Every one of those fights runs through a single law. And unless you work in federal land management or environmental law, you’ve probably never read a word of it.

It’s called the Federal Land Policy and Management Act. FLPMA. Pronounced “flip-mah.” Signed into law on October 21, 1976, by President Gerald Ford. And it’s the most important public lands law that almost nobody talks about.

If you’re new here, this is part of our ongoing explainer series. We’ve already covered NEPA, the Roadless Rule, and the Congressional Review Act. FLPMA is the one that ties them all tog…