The Stakes are High
We are ranchers, farmers, historians, archaeologists, environmentalists, artists, business people, teachers and students, elected officials and local communities.
We are the people of Southeastern Colorado.
If the military has it’s way the Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site will become the world’s largest live-fire range, destroying the natural, historical and cultural treasures of southeastern Colorado forever.
The Pinon Canyon Expansion Opposition Coalition (PCEOC) and other
opponents of the PCMS expansion, are a diverse group of patriotic people
from all walks of life, who share the common goal of preventing the
Pentagon from destroying the land and the lives of Southeastern
Colorado. We fully support our men and women in uniform and the need
for adequate training to maintain a strong military. However, we firmly
disagree with the Department of Defense’s (DOD) plan to acquire
additional land amounting to an area larger than the state of Connecticut.
It is unnecessary and wrong, especially considering that the DOD already
has 25-million acres within the United States at its disposal. We ask all
citizens to help us encourage legislators to rein in the DOD, and hold
them accountable.
There’s more than meets the eye, driving across the proposed expansion area. It’s easy to see cattle grazing upon apparently flat, uninhabited grasslands. But it’s not so easy to see is the canyons that the Purgatoire and Apisipa Rivers have cut deep into the landscape. It’s not easy to see the Native American cliff shelters or the petroglyphs that have adorned the canyon walls for thousands of years. It’s not easy to see the ruins of
Hispanic Placitas and Anglo homesteads or the ruts of the Santa Fe Trail or the homes of ranchers, many of whom have lived on, and cared for the land for four and five generations.
Why is the Pentagon Trying to Take this Land and
When is Enough, Enough?
The military already owns more than twenty five million acres in the United States. The Army has more than fifteen million of those acres. But, the military says it needs to expand the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site (PCMS) because of increased training demands at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, Colorado under the Base Realignment and Closure Commission, (BRACC.) The BRACC report itself however states that the maneuvers area at Fort Carson is sufficient. An expansion of PCMS would bring destruction to a unique natural, historical and cultural region of Colorado.
The military has been developing a plan to transform the Southeastern Colorado into a huge militarized zone since 2002, but it didn’t become public until a planning map was leaked from Fort Carson in 2006. The map indicated that threat of at least 2,500,000 acres (and up to 5,000,000 acres) in phases over a period of 18 years. Officials at Fort Carson immediately denounced the map and within a short time of the leaked map the military released a different map indicating a 1,500,000 acre “area of Interest” map. Coincidentally however it matches up with the early phases of the leaked map. The most recent map (418,000 acres) being proposed for acquisition appears to be phase one of a long range plan to take over most of the southeaster corner of Colorado. Once the map became known other military documents were discovered which describe a perceived need on the part of the military for a 150x150 km maneuver box at Piñon Canyon, an area equal to 5.5 million acres.
Of course now they say they would be 'willing to accept only 100,000 acres' even though 'it is not enough'. We have yet to see the most recently redesigned map that would go with this 'proposal'. It would seem that they don't know what they really want so how can they begin to know what they need.
Promises Made, Promises Broken: Initial Establishment of the Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site (PCMS)
In 1982 the Army created the PCMS by seizing 245,000 acres of private and public land by employing the use of eminent domain. At that time they made many promises to the people and communities of Southeastern Colorado—all of those promises have been broken. Consequently, the Army’s reputation is completely tarnished and they are not trusted by the people and communities of Southeastern Colorado.
See the map that shows the original plan to take all of southeastern Colorado HERE.
PROMISE: PCMS would bring economic prosperity to the region by using local resources and local labor.
FACT: PCMS has NOT contributed and has actually HURT economic prosperity to the region. Just the threat of expansion has also now had a tremendous negative impact on the entire areas’ economies.
PROMISE: PCMS would NEVER be expanded.
FACT: The Army is now seeking to expand the current 245,000 acres to 5 million acres (the entire SE corner of the state as seen in the map above).
PROMISE: Schools would receive payment in-lieu of taxes in replacement of those families stripped from the tax base.
FACT: The Army has yet to make one payment to these school districts in over 27 years.
PROMISE: The Army promised there would NEVER be live fire used at PCMS.
FACT: The Army has used live fire for years at PCMS
PROMISE: The Army promised to be good stewards of the land and cultural resources.
FACT: The Army has not been a good steward or overseer, failing to register and protect sensitive archaeological and historical sites and getting exemptions repeatedly from environmental laws, rules and regulations.
There IS TOO much at stake
There is so much at stake if the military follows through with its intention to turn the Southeastern corner of Colorado into the world’s largest live-fire maneuver range.
The targeted area is rich in prehistoric and historic sites of national significance, including thousands of Native American sites, early Hispanic Placitas, Santa Fe Trail encampments and pioneer ranching operations.
The area also boasts the longest dinosaur track way in America and significant dig sites where paleontologists are in the process of recovering the skeletal remains of Allosaurus and Brontosaurus dinosaurs.
This unique region is the precious habitat of thousands of plant and animals species, including the pronghorn, the only mammal to have survived the Cretaceous Extinction.
And worst of all, an expansion would be the forced removal of ranching families from their homes and lands that many of them have lived on since the 1800s.
But it’s not just ranchers who would suffer. Local economies in every rural town in Southeastern Colorado would be hurt. Thousands of people would be impacted and the true loss to our nation immeasurable.
Help us fight this injustice by calling, writing and making it known to everyone that this attempted taking of private property is unnecessary, completely un-American, and just plain wrong.
Please click I can Help to find out what can be done.
We ask everyone to join us and to push our leaders and legislators to rein in the DOD and hold them accountable. Let's stop these wasteful and destructive efforts to seize a hugh portion of land in Colorado larger than the State of Connecticut. Click I CAN HELP button above and get started.