SEVERSON: Critics say the greatest danger to the canyon will be the heavy road traffic, as many as 21,000 trips. And they say there is another way -- another old road that the company could use to bypass the canyon.

Mr. SAVADIL: As of right now, there's no way we could bring the drill rigs, the oversize trucks, those kinds of vehicles across the road that accesses this area to the south.

Mr. SPANGLER: It would require them to drill a little farther to reach the resource, and they would have had to do some road construction to improve that road up over the pass. Too much money. They wouldn't do it.

SEVERSON: The company is spraying the canyon road with magnesium chloride, which will reduce the dust damage from all the traffic. But not enough for Lane Miller.

LANE MILLER (Utah Rock Art Association): I've been coming here for 25 years. I came here this morning, hiked around for about an hour, and found two new sites.

SEVERSON: That's him up there, climbing back down the canyon wall.

Mr. MILLER: This is my church. This is where I come for Sunday service. It's just a special place. And we need to get some domestic production, but let's not do it in places like this. It's inappropriate. It's just stupid.

Mr. SASPUTCH: It's really how native people think. Everything is connected to the Creator. This here is our church. These cliffs, they're as high as any cathedral. They're all natural. They're what God put here. All those other churches and cathedrals -- that's man-made. This is already here.

SEVERSON: Larry Sasputch believes Nine Mile Canyon is as sacred as any cathedral or holy site anywhere in the world. But many Native Americans living on reservations have no idea what this canyon holds or what's going on here.

That may be why no tribe has joined the several environmental organizations who are suing to stop the seismic exploration, although the Bureau of Land Management -- the BLM -- which oversees Nine Mile Canyon has given tours to tribal leaders explaining what's happening.

Mr. MILLER: Here's another buffalo, a pregnant buffalo; you can see the baby inside.

SEVERSON: Lane Miller's Utah Rock Art Association joined in the suit, concerned, he says, not as much about the Bill Barrett Corporation as the BLM's fast-track approval of the project.

Mr. MILLER: I think there's a directive from Washington to maximize and rush gas development, and so they're just going wherever the gas is.

Mr. SPANGLER: The public involvement and comment period and everything is just kind of a perfunctory, going through the motion of complying with federal law, but the decision has already been made.

SEVERSON: BLM spokesperson Julie Howard says there is pressure from the top, but only to streamline the approval process.

JULIE HOWARD (Spokesperson, Bureau of Land Management): With the oil and gas energy development push through this administration, I think that the area has been highlighted. I think that we do feel pressure of getting the job correctly, of actually doing it in a timely manner. I think we do feel pressure.

SEVERSON: The Bill Barrett Corporation finds itself caught between a rock and a hard place, between perception and reality, according to Duane Zavadil.

Mr. ZAVADIL: I've been doing this job for 20 years, and the last four years have been the most miserable four years, in terms of being able to get things done, that I've experienced. The opposition, due to the perception of the administration pushing an energy agenda, really mobilized a lot of folks.

SEVERSON: And Larry Sasputch finds himself caught between the past and the future.

Mr. SASPUTCH: I'm a modern Indian. I have a vehicle. I have to have gas for my car. I have to have natural gas, propane, for heating my home. I don't understand everything about what they're saying on these rocks. It was another time, but those messages are as pertinent today as they were yesterday. They talk a pretty talk about taking care of them, but the bottom line is that dollar.

SEVERSON: The seismic exploration around Nine Mile Canyon should begin next month. If all goes as projected, the drilling would supply enough natural gas for 300,000 residences for 25 years.