[CPEO-MEF] ENCROACHMENT - A Cloud Hangs over Southern Colorado

[Lenny Siegel <lennysiegel@gmail.com>]

[To download this article as a formatted 3-page, 716 KB PDF file with 
photos, go to http://www.cpeo.org/PinonCanyon.pdf.]

Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site Expansion:
A Cloud Hangs over Southern Colorado

by Lenny Siegel
February, 2008


On February 11, 2008 I drove through southern Colorado, between the 
Army's existing Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site (PCMS) and an area, currently 
owned and managed by a number of local ranch families, which the Army 
wishes to add to the Site. Then in the town of Aguilar I met with a 
large roomful of members of the Pinon Canyon Expansion Opposition 
Coalition. The proposal to expand PCMS is a classic conflict between the 
U.S. military's expanding training requirements and the long-term 
occupants of the property that the Defense Department wants.

PCMS is a 235,000-acre site, with a handful of buildings in a 1,600-acre 
cantonment area, serving Ft. Carson, a major Army garrison roughly 80 
miles to the northeast. West of the Purgatoire River, it consists 
primarily of short-grass prairie and a speckling of basaltic hills. The 
Army acquired the existing site in the early 1980s, reportedly using 
eminent domain to obtain much of the property. In February 2007 the Army 
announced plans to acquire up to 418,577 acres to expand the training site.

A broad regional coalition, including archaeologists and 
paleontologists, peace activists, environmentalists, Indian tribes, and 
business owners, opposes the land acquisition, but the heart of the 
movement consists of the cattle ranchers who manage most of the 
landscape. These are the people I met in Aguilar, and their story is 
compelling.

Southern Colorado is light-years from Berkeley. That is, though like 
other Americans, many of the people there probably question current U.S. 
policy in the Middle East, they are by no means anti-military. The 
Coalition's Mission Statement states, "We are strong supporters of our 
country and our troops.... We firmly support adequate military training 
but realize a significant amount of land is already owned and secured to 
provide for that training." In short, they are not convinced that the 
military really needs their land. One rancher explained, "It's ironic 
that our young men and women are fighting for freedom overseas while we 
have to fight the Army here."

Most of the ranches in the Pinon Canyon area are multi-generational. 
That is, they were operated by the grandparents and earlier ancestors of 
the current occupants. Thus, the ranchers are not only defending their 
property, they are defending a way of life. While many are well educated 
and most seem plugged into the Internet, they raise grass-fed beef 
sustainably using practices that have been perfected over the past 
century or more. The Coalition Mission Statement asserts, "We also hold 
firm to the belief that our national security relies as much on our 
efforts to produce food as it does on a good national defense."

The ranchers explain that their cattle fill the ecological niche 
pre-historically held by buffalo. Managed grazing is good for the land. 
Studies have shown their lands to be reservoirs of biodiversity, because 
they know the land and recognize that their future is tied to it. Some 
are already signing contracts with wind farm operators, to harvest that 
powerful natural resource, while others are exploring solar power 
generation. Renewable energy generation, they say, is compatible with 
traditional cattle production; military training is not.

Ranchers and other local residents remember that the Army's promises of 
economic benefit, made during the creation of the PCMS in the 1980's, 
never materialized. They know that if even a small number of ranchers 
decide to sell their lands, it will be easier for the Army to seize land 
using eminent domain, to complete the checkerboard. They explain that 
the mere threat of acquisition has stifled the local economy, as 
ranchers defer maintenance such as painting. One told me that a merchant 
who sells fence posts has seen a 90 percent sales decline since the Army 
announced plans to expand the site. For the ranchers and the businesses 
that depend upon them, it's not enough to delay acquisition. They need 
to lift the cloud created by the pending proposal.

The Coalition has the ear of Colorado's Congressional delegation, but 
thus far their legislative success has been limited. Members of Congress 
have pledged to fight eminent domain, and the Salazar brothers (Senator 
Ken and Representative John) inserted language into the December 2007 
Omnibus Appropriations Act placing "a one-year moratorium on the 
expansion of the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site." During that period, the 
Army will be required to justify the expansion and the Government 
Accountability Office will study the proposal.

That's a partial success, but the Army is moving ahead with related 
construction on the existing PCMS. In June 2007, it finalized the 
Environmental Impact Statement for that project, and in August it was 
approved but the Army's Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff for Installation 
Management. To the ranchers and other denizens of southern Colorado, 
therefore, it appears that the expansion train is still moving forward. 
Unless the Army abandons the proposal, they believe they are "being held 
for ransom."


-- 


Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org


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