Ranchers vs. Army
Piñon Canyon opponents say ranchers deserve to win.
Categories: Old West Saviors
By: Jana Bommersbach 09/01/2007
Lon Robertson is a third generation Colorado rancher and patriotic American who never dreamed he'd be fighting the United States Army.
But these days, he's dedicated to stopping the Army from nearly doubling the size of the Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site. This plan, he says, will threaten agriculture, ranching and the existence of communities relying on the cultivation of that land, located 150 miles southeast of Fort Carson near Colorado Springs, Colorado. It will also destroy history, from Santa Fe Trail monuments to archaeological sites spanning 11,500 years to parts of the Comanche National Grassland, home of the largest known trackway of dinosaur footprints in North America.
Robertson is president of the Piñon Canyon Expansion Opposition Coalition. Posted on his ranch is a sign that can be seen throughout this area these days: "This Land Not For Sale to the Army."
"It's so unbelievable at first to think of the realities of what they're considering," says Robertson, remembering back to December 2005 when the local paper first hinted at what was ahead.
The very idea of expansion runs contrary to the promises the Army made when it created the site back in 1983—getting its land from ranchers and farmers. The Army declared then it would never need more land here to train American troops. But, as Robertson notes, it also promised to create some 30 jobs and be a local economic boon, but "those promises came up empty."
Robertson says the public doesn't know half of what the Army plans to do with Piñon Canyon. A "leaked" Army map published by the Colorado Springs Independent newspaper shows the planned expansion—from the existing 235,000 acres to 418,000 acres—could be just the first in an 18-year plan to take an astonishing 2.5 million acres of Colorado for battlefield training.
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