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• Article- GAO Report on Pinon Canyon
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MILITARY LANDS: Study details Army's plans to acquire 7M acres in southeast Colo.  (Thursday, October 30, 2008)

Eryn Gable, special to Land Letter

For years, opponents of the Army's plan to expand the Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site have pointed to 'the big map' as evidence that the military plans to take over the entire southeastern corner of Colorado.
Army officials, however, have dismissed the map over the past two years whenever ranchers fighting the expansion have held it up as the Defense Department's ultimate goal. But that tactic has hit a hurdle now that opponents have uncovered the May 2004 study by Fort Carson planners that explains the big map, an analysis they say makes clear that the land acquisition was designed to take place in many phases, with the ultimate goal of garnering almost 7 million acres.

The study urges the Army to purchase 5.9 million acres of private land around Piñon Canyon plus 1 million acres of public land across five counties to form an installation for training all branches of the U.S. military as well as 'allied forces.' The multi-service battlefield would be more than triple the size of the enormous White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, which, at 2.2 million acres, is currently the largest military installation in the United States.

The plan puts the land acquisition costs at almost $1.4 billion and says that 17,263 people in five counties would be 'displaced' to establish the sprawling military base.

And the first step in the plan calls for the Army to purchase 80,000 acres directly south of the current training site, which opponents say bears a striking resemblance to the Army's current push for 100,000 acres south of the Piñon Canyon site.

The Army proposed purchasing 100,000 acres adjacent to the southern boundary of the existing Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site, rather than its original plan of 418,000 acres, in a report to Congress this summer. Faced with a battle that had spilled into Congress as ranchers and their supporters fought the expansion, Keith Eastin, the army's assistant secretary for installations and environment, characterized the move as 'an honest effort to find common ground.'

'A blunt instrument'
The May 2004 policy document prepared by Fort Carson was obtained as part of a federal court challenge to Pentagon plans to expand the size and boundaries of the 238,000-acre Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site. The opposition group Not 1 More Acre! is suing the Army in U.S. District Court in Denver over alleged violations of the National Environmental Policy Act associated with the Piñon Canyon 'transformation' environmental impact statement issued in 2006.

Mack Louden, a rancher in Branson, Colo., and a Not 1 More Acre! board member, said the document revealed the true scale of the Pentagon's ambitions to swallow southeastern Colorado. 'It was like a blunt instrument between the eyes, realizing that they wanted 6.9 million acres,' Louden said.

Army spokesman Dave Foster called the ranchers' claims 'absolutely false.' 'The 2004 document was a working document at Fort Carson,' Foster said. 'It was never provided to higher headquarters, to the Department of the Army level.'

Foster said military installations nationwide prepare many such documents, but 'many of those documents never go anywhere.'
The spokesman also reiterated that the Army has no intention of acquiring more than the additional 100,000 acres near the site, even though it maintains that an additional 436,000 acres is needed to best train soldiers for combat. 'Because of our understanding of the sensitivities surrounding the issue of land expansion around Piñon Canyon, we would not seek any more than 100,000 acres from willing sellers.'

But Louden noted that the Army has used the Fort Carson study in its preparation of the environmental impact statement for the build-out of Piñon Canyon. 'If it was an obsolete document, then the EIS must be obsolete,' he said.

Lon Robertson, a rancher near Kim who heads the Piñon Canyon Expansion Opposition Coalition, said the document 'erases any doubt' about the Army's plans. 'I think it's just more evidence that backs up what we're seeing,' he said.

Roberston also noted that taking so much agricultural land out of production could have dire economic consequences. 'Hopefully, this will wake up people to the fact that this is going to affect the entire state and I really do think the entire country,' he said.

The ranchers also contend that putting the whole southeastern corner of Colorado east of the Rockies under military control would destroy some of the last intact shortgrass prairie remaining in the Great Plains. The region was overcome by the Dust Bowl in the 1930s and includes the Comanche National Grassland, the largest expanse of prairie set aside for restoration from that era.

Louden said a military takeover of southeastern Colorado could be detrimental for the fragile region's ecosystem. 'We know what happened 70 years ago, and the same thing could happen again,' he said.

Training needs
The May 2004 Fort Carson study, titled 'Analysis of Alternatives Study: Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site, Colorado,' says Piñon Canyon is the most attractive site in the United States for creating a training area that would allow the Army to engage in large-scale, live-fire maneuvers.

Nationwide, the Army is about 5 million acres short of the training space it says it needs. The Fort Carson study appears to indicate that that entire shortfall -- and more -- could be gained through expansion of the Piñon Canyon site.

The report noted the current training area's military assets, including eight parachute drop zones, a 5,000-foot landing strip capable of servicing four C-130 aircraft at a time and a railhead that can handle 165 railcars at once.

'Given its size, remote location, diverse terrain and infrastructure, PCMS far surpasses the training experience of any Combat Training Center' in the United States, the report said.

Currently, the Army is prohibited by Congress from spending any 2009 funds on the expansion effort. The Government Accountability Office is expected to issue a report later this year on whether the Army has violated that funding ban.

Click here to read the 2004 study.

Gable is an independent energy and environmental writer in Woodland Park, Colo.

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Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site Expansion

By: Kimmi Lewis, CICA Secretary

On February 14, 2007, the United States Dept. of the Army formally announced their plans to expand the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site training area, located 140 miles southeast of the Fort Carson base, Colorado Springs, CO. The maneuver site was originally put together by the United States Dept. of Defense in 1983 using condemnation and land purchases. At that time, the Dept. of Army officials stated they would never increase the size of Pinon Canyon nor use live rounds. In the past two years they have changed their minds and are using live artillery to train with, plus they have big plans of expansion.

Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site consists of 235,000 acres of short grass prairie habitat and deep canyonland, which are part of the Purgatoire Canyonlands as well as the Purgatoire River. The original site was over 285,000 acres. Nine years after the acquisition, the Army gifted 40,000 acres to the United States Forest Service as this parcel had the largest set of dinosaur tracks in the world.

The expansion that the Army is hoping for takes in ranch and farmland from the acreage of 415,000 more acres up to 5 million. One of the “planning maps” in which Fort Carson proposed dated in 1997 showed the whole southeast corner of Colorado being part of the maneuver site, which would have been an additional 2.5 million acres. A new map (pictured above) was just released by the Dept. of Army and it consists of 415,000 acres of private property that expands west towards Walsenburg (including the Apishipa River) and south. The Dept. of Defense is wanting to make Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site the largest training site in the United States.

The Dept. of Defense has control of 25 million acres in which to train and house soldiers. Right now the Dept. of Defense Military Construction Bill is setting in the Senate, waiting for approval and funding for this large acquisition of private property. Congresswoman Musgrave and Congressman John Salazar, both from Colorado, attached an amendment to the bill preventing the government from spending any money on Pinon Canyon. This initiative passed overwhelmingly in the House of Representatives. Now, we are waiting to see what the Senate will do with it and if the amendment will stay attached.

On December 14, 2000 the Dept. of the Army and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers signed a memorandum of understanding with The Nature Conservancy. This MOU has led the Army into the Army Compatible Use Buffer (ACUB) program, which is a program that leads private property owners into a contract to relinquish control on their land. These ACUB’s are nationwide with 8 other installations currently enrolled and more on the list. ACUB’s are legally binding agreements between Army installations and another party (nongovernmental, state or local government) that enables the other party to acquire land or interest in land from a willing private landowner in the vicinity of Army training areas.

This agreement or conservation easement will be held by this NGO and not by the Army. The Army will help fund the conservation easement, but not hold the contract. The Nature Conservancy and their partners which are other, smaller land trusts, which exist within these training site areas are waiting for this opportunity to get control of private land.

On November 8, 2006 the Dept. of the Army signed a Conservation Partnership Agreement with the United States Dept. of Agriculture at Fort Riley, KS. This cooperative agreement will be one of the biggest factors in the whole conservation scenario around military bases. Sen. Allard and Rep. Hefley of Colorado gave $7 Million to The Nature Conservancy to hold the ACUB south of Fort Carson in Colorado and Sen. Allard has already secured millions of tax dollars for more buffer zone easements throughout the United States. Sen. Allard’s Fort Carson Conservation Act of 2005 vaguely blocks condemnation but puts TNC in charge of buffer zones ensuring the survival of critical habitats.

The Endangered Species Act also has a part in this ACUB process. There are studies being done right now in Southeast Colorado, which were funded by GOCO (lottery funds) and The Colorado Cattlemen’s Association Ag Land Trust that will lead the area into the grips of The Endangered Species Act. Now, instead of just worrying the Army is going to take these farmers and rancher’s land, the ESA is the biggest threat of all. The Endangered Species Act does exactly as it was set out to do and that is to take private property owners off the land.

Most of the ranches and farms in the area are fourth and fifth generation families. The fight isn’t just against the Army to save the land, its also against their biggest partner, TNC as the sad reality is the ranches and farms could be taken to “preserve” them for future generations. In 1983, the Army took the land in the area and if they are allowed to do it again, they will “gift” some of it away and the rest of the area they want in control will be through the use of ACUB’s. The Army will use the conservation concept with the help of land trusts and nongovernmental organizations as a preservation tool to get control of Southeast Colorado.

We need to thank our two Colorado representatives Musgrave and Salazar for standing up for all of us in agriculture. Please contact senators Salazar and Allard and tell them to keep Musgrave’s amendment attached to the bill. Let them know that we will proudly provide our U.S. soldiers with USA Beef.

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Opposition to Pinon Valley Expansion Videos

Video 1: A Branding at Muddy Valley Ranch, with ranch owner Kimmi Lewis sharing her thoughts on the Pinon Valley Expansion. Video 2: Landowner Ted Lee gives his opinion of Pinon Valley Expansion

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Archives:

• Attend the Good Neighbor Convention, Sept. 22, 2007: The Good Neighbor Convention is for anyone concerned about the erosion of private property rights, the continuing absorption of state and local Constitutional authorities by the Federal government, or the growth of power and influence by non-governmental organizations.



• September 4, 2007 Press Release: Jim Beers, a wildlife biologist that retired from the US Fish & Wildlife Service will speak at the Good Neighbor Forum in La Junta on Saturday, September 22nd.  Jim is a writer, speaker, and consultant to communities being harmed by growing government powers all over the country.
  
  
• No Premises Registration Poster: Help us spread the word! Print and post it on stalls at the fair or anywhere.



• July 30, 2007 Press Release: How To Remove Your Property From NAIS Premises Registration.



• July 23, 2007 Press Release: The Coalition Wants Mandatory 4-H Premises Registrations Halted Until Cost-Benefit Study is Completed.

 

• June 29, 2007 Press Release: Coalition Disputes Credibility of CSU Cooperative Extension's Survey on Mandatory 4-H Premises Registration. read complete discussion here


• June 13, 2007 Press Release: State-Wide Coalition Urges CSU’s Cooperative Extension To Return To Its Mission of Education and Outreach.


• June 5, 2007: Responses to Colorado State University Bullet Points on La Plata County Board of Commissioners Resolution 2007-27 Opposing Mandatory 4-H and FFA Premises Registration.
  

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