Resource management in Piceance Basin, Northwest Colorado

"The northwest region of Colorado and, within the heart of it, the Piceance basin, is presently experiencing a rapid industrial expansion due to energy minerals development. The greatest impetus stems from coal and oil shale. As the pace quickens, problems associated with rapid development in a sparsely populated area are becoming more obvious and more critical. The situation is complicated by the fact that other resources equally as important are being developed in the same area simultaneously. In the Piceance Basin, where development of oil shale shows potential as a new energy source, grazing lands are giving way to development, livestock, wild horses and burros, and wildlife will be displaced, only to impact the environment elsewhere."--Page [1].