In 1983 the Society for American Archaeology (SAA) initiated a series of get-togethers with members of the joint committee on environmental issues of the American Mining Congress and the National Coal Association. These informal meetings, held in Denver, Colorado and Reno, Nevada, came about primarily at the initiative of Gregory Conrad of the American Mining Congress, William Hynan of the National Coal Association and Cynthia Irwin-Williams, a Past-President of the Society for American Archaeology. The immediate focus was the impact of coal strip mining on cultural resources, and the need to properly address cultural resources concerns in mining lease areas. After several highly productive meetings between the mining industry joint committee and an ad hoc SAA committee appointed by then President George Frison, it was concluded that a series of regional conferences would be useful. Further, it was clear that the scope of the conferences should be quite broad: to determine the status of the data base in each region and to evaluate how CRM archaeology is being conducted in each region. Eleven regions were designated within the forty-nine continental states, chairs of conferences picked, and the conferences were held in late 1984 and early 1985. A session on conference results was held at the May, 1985 annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology in Denver, Colorado. Arrangements were made to publish an overall summary volume to be issued by the Society, and larger volumes for each region. The present volume contains conference findings for the Great Basin.