Natural gas demand in the United States is projected to increase by 50 percent over the next 25 years, and much of this demand may be met by increasing production on federal lands in the intermountain west. This report presents a new approach to assessing natural gas and oil resources that is intended to help federal land managers with strategic land use planning by expanding the scope of these assessments to include economic and environmental considerations. This approach provides new information to help characterize energy resources in different areas.
