The Army has failed to adequately explain why it needs to expand by 100,000 acres the Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site in southern Colorado, the Government Accountability Office said in two reports released today.
The Army identified Fort Carson — specifically its Piñon Canyon site — as one installation where potential land acquisitions would be a feasible solution to a 4.5 million-acre training land shortage by 2013.
Originally, the Army said it would need to acquire up to 418,577 acres. But after the proposed expansion drew criticism from various landowners and interest groups, the Army said it would seek only 100,000 additional acres south of the existing maneuver site.
The GAO said, however, that the Army failed to do several necessary things:
In response to the reports, the Army said that it agrees with the GAO that it could have done a better job communicating its land acquisition needs at Pinon Canyon.
The Army said that it is already implementing, with the Department of Defense, “an outreach step” that would ensure better communications with stakeholders for future land acquisition attempts.”
Keith Eastin, the assistant secretary of the Army for installations and environment, said the GAO reports did agree with “the Army’s core needs.”
“Most importantly for Congress and the public, on the critically important questions asked by Congress on the ‘need for any proposed addition of training land to support units stationed or planned to be stationed at Fort Carson’, the GAO accepted all of the Army’s responses,” said Eastin.
The reports were requested by Colorado U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar and former U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard.
“The release of these reports is consistent with the process we put in place last year to determine the need, if any, for expanding the Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site and what impacts expansion would have on southeastern Colorado,” said Salazar. “The public deserves a say in this process.”
He said that in the coming months, landowners, elected officials and other community members will have an opportunity to comment on the reports.
In the reports, the GAO said that while the Army has established an extensive analytical approach to making decisions regarding training-land acquisitions, it has not ensured that its strategic plan remains current.
The Army has not updated its strategic plan since it was developed in 2004.
“Because of a lack of specificity in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and Army communications strategies, the Army has not been consistent or always effective in communicating its approach to acquire training land,” said the report. “Army officials and community groups said that the Army did not adequately explain its reasoning for the proposed expansion of Piñon Canyon. In this case, the public, at times, relied on rumors and leaked documents.”
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
