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Energy production in North Dakota has boomed over the last seven years, driven primarily by development of petroleum deposits in the Bakken shale formation. While oil production has long been a feature of the working landscapes and rural communities of western North Dakota, new technologies such as hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling have led to unprecedented landscape industrialization. Both the density and productive capacity of wells are greater than before, which has increased the footprint of energy development in almost every sense: more traffic; more land given to pads, pipelines, and novel infrastructure such as saltwater disposal; and large increases in local populations. All of these changes affect the natural and social resources of rural communities, but the nature and extent of these impacts have yet to be documented. We conducted focus groups with community and farm industry leaders in the top three oil-producing counties of North Dakota, and present responses in a usable science framework designed to allow residents to identify priority areas of research and policy concern. From an agricultural perspective, participants were most concerned about fugitive dust impacts on crops and livestock, disruptions to farm operations by both on-road traffic and off-road traffic (e.g., company employees leaving gates open or disturbing livestock), and restoring productivity following reclamation of pads, pipelines, and spills. From a business perspective, participants expressed concern about terms of easement contracts, ability to rent or lease land in high-impact areas, and adequate compensation for time spent managing development impacts. From a community perspective, participants expressed concern over limited resources for local services, stress on social networks, and demands of itinerant populations on schools and churches. Using Google Earth and landscape photography, we visually present aspects of energy development's footprint in the Bakken region.