CODY - Cody area residents met Wednesday with specialists from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, one of a series of meetings across the Big Horn Basin aimed at gathering public input on how the agency should manage public lands over the next two decades.

The scoping meetings, including one held Thursday in Powell, will help guide the creation of a new Resource Management Plan, which will guide decisions on a host of issues ranging from energy development to recreation to wildlife habitat management.

"This is the time to participate," said Caleb Hiner, BLM project manager for the planning process, which will take about three years.

The new Big Horn Basin planning area covers 3.2 million acres, plus an additional 1 million acres of federal mineral rights lying under private lands.

The area will cover what are now three separate planning zones centered around Cody, Worland and Grass Creek.

Scoping meetings help the BLM identify issues that are important to the public, and will guide the first draft of the new RMP, which will be released in fall 2009, Hiner said.

The last time the plan was changed was in 1990, said Mike Stewart, Cody field manager.

"If we do a good job, it should last a long time," he said, adding that earlier meetings have not yielded any major surprises in public sentiment.

"If we know what the issues are that are on people's minds, we can do a better job in the planning process," he said.

Hiner said the process is focused on identifying issues of concern and minimizing conflict between competing goals for resource management.

"The biggest concern I have right now is oil and gas leasing," said Martin Mufich, a retired Cody resident who previously worked for the U.S. Forest Service.

Mufich, a sportsman who said he enjoyed hunting and fishing, wanted to see more transparency in how energy companies operate on public lands.

"They've got a whole process for all this that most people don't know anything about," he said.

Mufich said there is lax oversight over chemicals used in drilling, with many companies failing to disclose the constituents of fluid used in the fracturing process.

He said ground water and surface water are at risk, and better regulations are needed as energy development moves into more sensitive and pristine areas.

"I have friends that moved up here from Colorado to get away from it, and now it's happening here," he said.

Cody resident Paul Hessenthaler, a 25-year veteran of the oil business, said the industry has seen steady advances in technology, safety and environmental management.

"The water is cleaner now than when I was a kid. I think the oil companies have done a lot to change things for the better," said Hessenthaler, who grew up in Byron.

He said regulations were already a major burden on the industry, and should be reduced.

"Regulation is a huge issue. It takes up a lot of time and money, and I don't know if there's a way it could be made simpler, but it should be," he said.

Hessenthaler said energy development has helped fund much of the state's public infrastructure.

"Every school in this area was built with mineral money," he said. "I fear what's going to happen to Wyoming when the oil and gas goes away."

Al Abee, of Cody, spent time Wednesday studying separate BLM maps, one showing oil and gas wells and another highlighting where high winds offer good potential for wind energy development.

"I believe in sustainable development, but my struggle is that the price of oil determines the feasibility of alternative energy sources," he said.

"I feel a moral responsibility to try and meet the nation's energy needs, so I want to see what the options are for producing different kinds of energy," Abee said.

"People need jobs and commodities, but we also need a clean environment that is home to the plants and animals that are our heritage. We need all three," he said.

Abee said the country should develop a comprehensive energy strategy that pursues alternative energy and fossil fuels on public lands.

"We need to be more open in terms of meeting the insatiable demands for energy. I don't want to just do the same thing we've done for the last 20 years," he said.