"It feels like a steam-roller," said Mack Louden, a newly elected Las Animas County commissioner, who has fought the Army's expansion effort since 2005. Ranchers fighting the expansion note the map's schedule of phased growth closely resembles the initial property request the Army actually made in 2009. Army officials have always dismissed that map, saying it was never approved by the Pentagon or senior Army planners. Many city and county governments in the affected area have sent up emergency flares of opposition, passing resolutions to oppose the low-altitude training flights by four-engine C-130 transports and V-22 Osprey movable rotor aircraft.įor the Pinon Canyon ranchers, the Air Force plan has an ominous resemblance to an Army map from 2004, showing Pinon Canyon growing by increments until it includes 7 million acres and encompasses the southeastern corner of the state. For five years, ranchers around the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site have battled and blocked the Army from expanding the 238,000-acre training ground northeast of Trinidad, winning legislative fights in Congress as well as the General Assembly.īut in the past six months, the Pentagon has started a new training initiative with the Air Force, unveiling plans to create a huge, low-altitude training range covering most of Southern Colorado and northern New Mexico.
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