Pinon Canyon Expansion: Are Nature Conservation Groups Helping The Army Secure More Land?

The Pueblo Chieftain:

Ranchers opposed to the Army's planned expansion of the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site are charging The Nature Conservancy environmental group with being the Army's silent partner, based on past and continuing agreements with Fort Carson to establish conservation easements around both the Mountain Post and the 238,000-acre Pinon Canyon training range.

Using documents obtained by Freedom of Information Act requests, the Not 1 More Acre! group released two Army reports Thursday showing a 2002 cooperative agreement with The Nature Conservancy to acquire easements around both installations - as well as a hefty 2006 confidential report called "Pinon Vision" that outlines step-by-step how the Army intended to acquire up to 1.1 million acres around the training range by 2017.

Read the whole story: The Pueblo Chieftain

Comments

[hellboundtrain]

It would be a far closer match for the Army to acquire training grounds in the deserts of Nevada, Arizona, or New Mexico, to the areas in the world where the politicians have decided to wage war. The land would probably be much cheaper and there would be fewer people living in the areas to contend with.