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PUEBLO, Colo.—A House proposal to delay expansion of the Army’s Pinon Canyon training site will need the support of a Colorado senator, said Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo.

Salazar met on Saturday with about 60 ranchers and family members who are concerned the Army will force them to give up their land to add 414,000 acres to the 238,000-acre southeast Colorado training site.

Salazar and Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Colo., put an amendment in a House 2008 military construction bill to stop the Army from spending any money next year on expansion.

Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., is not running for re-election next year and has signaled he supports the Army conducting initial expansion studies next year. However, his chief of staff has said Allard wants the Army to agree not to condemn land.

Ranchers are waiting to see whether Salazar’s brother, Sen. Ken Salazar, will back the House amendment.

“We need to have a Colorado senator support our amendment,” John Salazar acknowledged to the crowd. Earlier, he defended his brother, noting that the freshman senator has to address issues from a statewide perspective.

The Army has said it needs more training space, given the arrival of 10,000 troops who were transferred to Fort Carson. It has said it would be too expensive to ship the soldiers elsewhere for training and that it would hope to acquire land from willing sellers.

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Information from: The Pueblo Chieftain,