In the southeast quadrant of our state, the hot current issue is the U.S. Army’s proposal to expand its 236,000-acre Piñon Canyon Training Area by up to 418,572 acres.
This has inspired some predictable responses. Rep. Doug Lamborn, who represents Colorado Springs, seems to be for it – and why not? His city is home to Fort Carson, and it will enjoy a larger military payroll, along with associated federal spending.
Just about every other Colorado politician, though, has hearkened unto the pleas of those long-time ranch families whose ancestors, with assistance from the U.S. Army, took the land from the Cheyenne, who took it from the Comanche, who took it from the Apache, etc.
Other critics point out that the U.S. Army is already quite skilled at deploying armor and artillery in sparsely populated deserts, as evidenced by the rapid progress to Baghdad in the spring of 2003. If our soldiers need more training, it’s for fighting in inhabited areas, where American forces have been bogged down.
Thus the Army could be looking in the wrong place to expand. Instead of acquiring more empty territory around Trinchera, Branson, Thatcher and Model, the Army should focus on the U.S. 50 corridor from east of Pueblo to the Kansas line.
Granted, there are no cities of Baghdad’s magnitude along that route, but Rocky Ford, La Junta, Lamar and Las Animas should be enough for some realistic training in modern counter-insurgency warfare.
Some might complain that it would be wrong to force civilians to leave, but it should be pointed out that civilians have been leaving all on their own for years.
While Colorado’s overall population more than tripled from 1950 to 2000, not one of the three counties in this corridor – Otero, Bent and Prowers – had as many people in 2000 as in 1950. Bent County, for instance, dropped from 8,775 residents to 5,998. Putting it in a military reservation would merely accelerate a process that people are already voting for – with their feet.
American taxpayers could save money, too. The towns out there are having trouble meeting federal clean-water standards. The solution they propose is a pipeline from Pueblo Reservoir, something they were promised back in 1962 when the Frying Pan-Arkansas project was authorized.
Congress never appropriated the money, perhaps because the communities never agreed to repay the full cost of the pipeline. Now there’s a proposal for the towns to pay 20 percent of the cost, with all American taxpayers picking up the rest of the $250 million tab.
So there’s at least $200 million from the federal treasury we could save, and that doesn’t count the cost of the 6,700 acre feet of additional water a year that would be needed to supply the Arkansas Valley Conduit.
None of this spending would be necessary, of course, if the U.S. Army took over the territory. Further, with land fallowed and towns abandoned, thousands of acre-feet of water would be available for the growing cities of Aurora and Colorado Springs, which already get some water from the Arkansas River. One of Colorado’s major water-supply problems would be solved, at least for a few decades. And again, as with depopulation, we’re just accelerating an ongoing process.
Without irrigation demands, we should be able to meet our Arkansas River Compact obligations to Kansas more easily. Besides, if Kansas didn’t like our deliveries, it could deal with the Fourth Infantry Division.
State and federal taxpayers would see many other savings, given that this corridor is prone to tornadoes, hailstorms, blizzards, droughts, black-roller dust storms and similar occasions for disaster aid. Such hazards would just make it a better practice zone for the Army, though.
So if the Army needs to expand its training area in Colorado, Piñon Canyon isn’t the best place. The corridor would work better, save tax money and make water available for our growing cities. And if the Army needs a large city to practice for Baghdad, then it’s time to take a good look at Colorado Springs.
Ed Quillen of Salida (ed@cozine.com) is a former newspaper editor whose column appears Tuesday and Sunday.
