Ranchers Attempt to Hold Off Army's Expansion in Colorado

The U.S. Army owns nearly 10 million acres of land across the U.S., and it wants more in remote southeastern Colorado, which it says is ideal for intense combat training. The problem is that much of that prairie is owned by ranchers who have run cattle across the plains for generations. And they have balked at turning over their rangeland to Uncle Sam. For three years now, local ranchers have battled the Army to a standstill, blocking a planned expansion of the Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site, just north of the New Mexico border. That fight is reaching a crescendo, with the ranchers pushing Congress to permanently block the Army from expanding, potentially through eminent-domain claims. The ranchers have opened a second front with a federal lawsuit filed last year that aims to force the Army to do more environmental-impact studies before intensifying training drills on land it already owns. The current training site, created in the early 1980s, covers about 370 square miles and includes six rail spurs, a landing strip that can handle four C-130 aircraft at a time, and room to maneuver as many as 10,000 soldiers through live-fire drills with tanks and armored vehicles. But to support its modern fighting force, the Army says it needs nearly triple the space -- 1,025 square miles -- so brigade combat teams can practice defensive maneuvers, battalions can coordinate mock attacks with air support and special forces can drill in a separate zone. Southeast Colorado is considered ideal because it is convenient to several Army bases; the terrain simulates Middle East war zones; and it is so remote that troops can test night-vision gear without interference from city lights, according to a 2004 analysis prepared by Army officials at Fort Carson, some 120 miles to the north. That same analysis urged the Army to try to buy as much as seven million acres in an area that is now home to 17,000 residents. But an Army spokesman said that plan was never adopted by headquarters; the goal, he said, is to buy 418,000 acres to expand the maneuver site. The first phase calls for a 100,000-acre acquisition...WSJ