Good Neighbor Law

I S S U E S : P I N O N C A N Y O N

March 28, 2008

Commissioners voice opposition to any expansion of Pinon Canyon

By PETER ROPER
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN

CHIEFTAIN PHOTO/FILE

Fort Carson soldiers patrol a checkpoint at the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site. Pueblo County commissioners
on Thursday said they will resolve to stop Army expansion in the area

Pueblo County commissioners told opponents of the Pinon Canyon expansion efforts Thursday that they will approve a resolution urging the Army to go elsewhere to acquire more training land.

The commissioners previously had endorsed a one-year ban on the Army spending money on the effort, but they took a bigger step by saying they oppose any future expansion of the 238,000-acre training area northeast of Trinidad.

Commissioner Jeff Chostner, a retired Air Force colonel, said he understood the military's need for training land, but he believed the Defense Department has adequate training acreage elsewhere in Texas, California, Nevada and other states.

"This expansion would effectively seal off Southeastern Colorado from the public," Chostner said, referring to the plan to add 414,000 more acres to Pinon Canyon. "I think this is a case of the Army overreaching."

Commissioner Anthony Nunez pointed out that the county had endorsed the no-expansion resolutions taken by other Southeastern counties affected by the Pinon Canyon expansion.

"We committed as a commission to support those counties and I still agree with that position today," Nunez said. "This expansion can go elsewhere."

Commissioner John Cordova said his support would keep the commission unified on the issue.

The resolution is being sought by the Not 1 More Acre group - one of the coalitions opposing the Pinon Canyon expansion. They were joined by the Sangre de Cristo Group of the Sierra Club. Mack Louden, a Branson-area rancher, told commissioners that Pueblo's economy is closely linked to the ranching economy of the region. Noting that rural families come to Pueblo to shop, receive medical care and attend college, Louden said Pueblo officials have a stake in whether ranching survives in Las Animas County and the area around Pinon Canyon.

"This expansion would change the balance of everything in the region," said Louden, who is a board member of the Not 1 More Acre group. "Is that really what Southern Colorado wants?"

Ken Gyurman, whose family lost most of its ranch when Pinon Canyon was created in the early 1980s, reminded the commissioners that the Army has broken many of the commitments it made 25 years ago - such as not wanting additional land and not conducting live-fire training at Pinon Canyon.

"If we are forced off our land again, a part of this community will be lost as well," he said.

Chostner took the most time to list his opposition to the expansion, saying he feared that a growing Pinon Canyon training area would shut off public access to that region of Colorado, crippling the ranching and agriculture in the area.

"Unless you are driving to Las Vegas or Reno, the public can't drive across the state of Nevada without hitting a federal fence," Chostner said. "I don't want that happening to Southeastern Colorado."