The Empty Interior

-The Rocky Mountains "still have remnants of glaciation found in the central Rockies and the Sierra Nevada's" (Birdsall, etc..).  The South Platte River is a river that is formed from the glaciation of the Rockies and heads through all Denver.  The Colorado river provides water for California, Nevada, Arizona  and couple other western states.
-Although the empty interior has a high level of Mormon influence, Colorado only has an average of 2% percent of the population survey practicing the Mormon faith according to the Pew forum , so Denver does not have a strong influence of this faith.  
-The federal and state government own about 43% of Colorado, with a lot of land being dedicated to  forest and parks.  In these forest and parks, there are tons of wildlife that live there.  With Denver being such a metropolitan city, animals try to stay away from nearby city life.

-According to the U.S. Energy site, "Colorado’s oil shale deposits hold an estimated 1 trillion barrels of oil — nearly as much oil as the entire world’s proven oil reserves. However, oil production from those deposits remains speculative."  As shown in the Chapter 12 map, the oil deposits in this state are quite high.


References:
http://religions.pewforum.org/maps
http://www.nrcm.org/documents/publiclandownership.pdf
http://naturalunseenhazards.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/800px-mule-deermule-deer-buck-at-rocky-mountain-arsenal-national-wildlife-refuge-outside-of-denver-co.jpg (pic 1)
http://www.eia.doe.gov/state/state-energy-profiles.cfm?sid=CO