Pinon Canyon: A Closer Look

For more than a year The Land Report has been tracking the largest proposed seizure of private property by the federal government in modern history: the Battle for Pinon Canyon. It pits ranchers in southeast Colorado against an opponent that’s not used to losing ground wars: the U.S. Army. 

The stakes are high. The U.S. Army’s Fort Carson, which is based more than 100 miles away in Colorado Springs, wants more than 420,000 acres - that’s more than 600 square miles of land currently in private hands - to expand an existing training ground known as the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site (PCMS). The U.S. Army already has 20 million acres of training grounds, but it says it has to have the land in Pinon Canyon.

Local ranchers, meanwhile, are refusing to give in, and they say they won’t just lose the land the Army wants but their entire way of life. The military’s land grab will disrupt their way of life, disturb neighboring ranches, cut some ranches off entirely, and decimate the economy of nearby ranching communities such as Trinidad.

Over the next several weeks, The Land Report will examine events unfolding in this epic, sometimes tragic struggle that pits some of the most traditional, red-state landowners against one of the few institutions of government they have an undying respect for but which they have vowed to fight to the bitter end.

Make no mistake: what happens in Pinon Canyon is something that affects landowners everywhere. The Land Report will be tracking this story every step of the way.

More Field Reports From The Land Report:

1. Pinon Canyon: The Fight Goes to the Hill
   The U.S. Senate is close to approving a $72 billion military construction budget that would effectively prevent the Army from spending any money to expand the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site...
2. Pinon Canyon: Colorado Senator Ken Salazar Feels the Heat
   Pressure from grassroots opponents of the U.S. Army’s attempt to seize 420,000 acres of privately-owned land in southeast Colorado is starting to produce some results in Washington. While he’s been...
3. Eminent Domain Clouds Pinon Canyon
   With more than 15 million acres of military bases, training centers, and maneuver sites, the US. Army ranks as one of Americas largest landowners. But when it comes to...
4. Pinon Canyon: Under Fire Again
   Fire destroyed Mack Louden’s century-old Marty Feeds building in Trinidad on September 15. Louden, a local rancher who has been spearheading opposition to Fort Carson’s proposed expansion of the Pinon Canyon Maneuver...
5. Pinon Canyon: Uranium Contamination?
   First, the Army set off a firestorm when it announced its intention to use eminent domain to condemn 400,000 acres of family farms and ranches in order to triple...