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 General Accounting Office said in two reports released today.
The Army identified Fort Carson — specifically its Piñon Canyon Maneuver 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 only seek 100,000 additionaly acres south of the existing maneuver site.
But, said the GAO, the Army failed to do several necessary things:
It did not explain its basis for selecting fewer acres.
The estimated cost per acre used for internal planning to acquire additional land at the maneuver site has increased since 2007 but the Army’s report does not discuss the increase.
The Army completed the required analysis when requesting the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s approval for the up to 418,577-acre expansion, but has not completed analysis for the current 100,000 acre proposal. Such an analysis, said the GAO, would help the public to understand, among other things, how much the 100,000 acres would actually be used for training, what type of training can be conducted, and what are the estimated costs to maintain the 100,000 acres.
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.”
The reports were requested by Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar, and former Sen. Wayne Allard, and then-Rep. Mark Udall.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
