A Bureau of Land Management office in Billings, Montana. The office also includes the Billings Office of the Custer-Gallatin National Forest (Photo by Darrell Ehrlick of the Daily Montana)

The federal government on Wednesday proposed rescinding a Bureau of Land Management rule that allows the department to consider conservation as part of its multi-pronged approach to federal land management.

The change comes as the Trump administration continues pushing for increased resource utilization of public lands, including through logging and mining.

The proposal drew immediate reactions from Montanans — with political leaders praising the reversal as helpful to energy production but conservation groups decrying it as another harm to public lands access.

“President Trump and Secretary Burgum a

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