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OPINION
Discussion of the Army’s Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site and the proposed expansion evokes emotion on both sides of issue. The State Legislature passed a bill last session that, while not likely to survive if challenged in court, definitely sent a message to the Department of Defense that Colorado is not military friendly. Make no mistake, the ranchers and their neighbors who oppose the expansion are not unpatriotic or even unsympathetic to the Army’s need to train troops to fight in Iraq and future wars. On the other side, the Army strategists who are tasked with providing adequate training capability for our soldiers are not indifferent to the plight of the ranchers. While some of these ranches have out of state owners whose attachment can be measured in dollars, the emotional attachment of a 3rd or 4th generation rancher is understandable. As you train so shall you fight – a truism that necessitates the need for as realistic training as possible. The better trained a soldier the better chance of that soldier coming home alive. We hear of the millions of acres the military has for training, but the modern army is actually five million acres short of what is needed for adequate training. The existing Pinon Canyon is meeting the current needs of Fort Carson only because there are rarely more than two brigades on post due to the current deployment schedule. When Fort Carson is at full strength and the Iraq war has wound down, the existing land at Pinon Canyon will not provide adequate training in part because they can not train on the same dirt day after day and month after month. This brings up the environmental discussion. Having hunted on Fort Carson and seen first hand how the Army takes care of its maneuver sites, environmentally Fort Carson doesn’t have to take a back seat to anyone. The army does not have to make a living raising cattle so it may be unfair to contrast it to a working ranch, but a side by side comparison will bear out the fact that Fort Carson has one of the best Environmental Compliance Directors in the county. It seems the Army got something of a black eye back in the 80s with the original acquisition, and from a public relations point of view is not doing much better this time. However, it is not exactly a level playing field on the public relations front. Department of Defense rules prohibit even talking about acquisitions until certain Pentagon and Congressional landmarks are met, meanwhile speculation runs rampant and opposition mounts. Without a doubt the military and civilians operate on two separate planes. It appears to me the Army is going to have to be a little more creative with this expansion. It is time to take eminent domain off the table, and put leasing of property and cattle grazing on the table. This is nothing new, at Fort Lewis, Washington when tanks are not in the field cattle are. Something also has to be done to preserve the local economies in southern Colorado, fuel and uniforms are rarely bought at the local general store. It will take some fairly creative people to figure that one out but it can be done. I recently spend the day with a group of community and business leaders as well as elected officials from Action 22, an organization committed to working together to improve communities ranging from Baca County in the southeast to Chaffee County in the center of the state. While roads and tourism are less controversial, water and energy invoked spirited discussions, but it got down right passionate for the Pinon Canyon discussion. Fortunately when it came time to vote on a resolution opposing the expansion there were a majority who believed not all the evidence was on the table, not all the options had been explored. Decisions have to be made with the best available information. I would hope the Senate will vote to complete the Pinon Canyon study. It will undoubtedly take longer than anyone would like but all the options have to be explored, for the sake of both sides.
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