DENVER-
A Senate committee on Monday backed a measure telling the Army that ranchers can’t be forced to sell their land to triple the size of the Pinon Canyon training site.
The House has already backed the measure (House Bill 1069) even though lawmakers acknowledged they’re not sure if a state law can stop the Army from using eminent domain.
Despite that, ranchers and others who oppose the expansion think it would still send a strong message to Washington that Colorado is concerned about the expansion. They think that could make it harder for the Army to win congressional should it move ahead with the plans to acquire 418,000 acres—or 653 square miles—nearly tripling the site it now has in southeastern Colorado.
“We’re absolutely going to have 100 members of this General Assembly watching what goes on down there,” Sen. Ken Kester, R-Las Animas, said.
The debate pits Colorado Springs, the home of Fort Carson, against the ranchers on the plains who live around Pinon Canyon, some of whom say landowners weren’t treated fairly when the Army first created the maneuver site in the 1980s to train Fort Carson’s soldiers.
Ranchers fear the loss of up to 80 ranches—many of them homesteaded in the early 1900s—which they say would have a ripple effect on the area’s agriculture economy and rural way of life. Fort Carson, meanwhile, is preparing to grow by 10,000 soldiers by the end of 2009 after emerging as a big winner in last year’s round of base closures.
Katelyn Karney, 16, told lawmakers about the freedom of riding her gray mare around her family’s ranch near La Junta and her early memories of sitting on her father’s lap as he drove around in his pickup to feed the cattle.
“Our land is our life and we’re not willing to give that up to anyone,” she said following the vote.
Fort Carson spokesman Col. Dave Johnson said running training exercises at both Fort Carson and Pinon Canyon give soldiers a chance to replicate the distances and the pace they experience in battle.
“I think everyone would agreed, before we send out soldiers to battle, we want to make sure they’re well trained and well equipped,” Johnson said.
He said the environmental and hearing process could take another two years before the Army would even begin to acquire land. He said the Army intends to buy land from willing sellers but will not give up its right to use eminent domain.
Some ranchers said the existing land hasn’t been used to train soldiers for the Iraq war or for Desert Storm. Johnson said the site was used by soldiers before 1991 and last summer.
Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver, said he was worried the bill could send the wrong message to and put the future of Fort Carson and other military projects at risk.
“Do we encourage them to do a better process?…Or do we encourage them to just pick up and forget it?” Romer asked.
Romer later joined three other lawmakers—including Republican Sen. Dave Schultheis of Colorado Springs—in voting to send it to the full Senate for debate. Despite the opposition to the bill from Colorado Springs officials, Schultheis said he supported the bill because he’s worried that too much property is being removed from the state’s tax rolls.
