Energy extraction activities in the Intermountain West doubled from 1990 to 2007. Within the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) White River Field Office (WRFO) management area, 95 percent of new oil and gas development activities are anticipated to occur in the Piceance Creek Basin. Oil and gas development activities are leading to changes in the landscapes administered by the BLM. These landscapes provide habitats for many species, including some that are rare, and ecosystem services important to the public, including recreation, grazing, and energy production. WRFO personnel are developing a resource management plan amendment (RMPA) related to oil and gas extraction activities, with a goal to manage for long-term ecological viability, as defined by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act. A timely, cost-effective, scientifically valid, and publicly accepted approach to monitoring the effectiveness of land management decisions and practices was desired as part of the RMPA. To meet this need, the BLM, in collaboration with Colorado State University, and with input from the U.S. Geological Survey, developed this RMPA companion document, which proposes a resource management and monitoring protocol (RMMP). Once all phases are complete, the RMMP will include specific protocols and models for using remote sensing and other geospatial technologies, a series of metrics judged by experts as likely to reflect important changes in landscapes over time, and a means to report the results of the RMMP to the public, to operators, and within the BLM.