First they came for the mule deer. [1] Then they came for the black-footed ferrets. [2] Now the Bureau of Land Management is coming for the fun-loving residents of Craig, Colorado. [3]

In recent months, the BLM has come under criticism [4] for spending more time handing out oil- and natural gas-drilling leases than monitoring the damage that drilling causes to wildlife and land.

Next month, the Bureau plans to auction [5] off oil and gas development leases on 196,000 acres of Colorado land. Forty of those acres sit on the eastern shore of the Elkhead Reservoir [6] in Craig (near Steamboat Springs) where locals and visitors waterski, fish, windsurf - and where the city happens to be building a new recreation area. If the lease goes through, sitting amid the planned boat ramps and picnic tables could be an oil rig or two. "We don't want a gas well drilled in the middle of our park," Craig City Manager Jim Ferree told [7] the Grand Junction Sentinel.

The ferrets feel your pain, Jim.

Photo credit: Basspro.com [8]