Obama to Nominate Salazar for Interior

Landowners in the West will have one of their own heading up the Interior Department in the new Obama Administration. According to published reports, Sen. Ken Salazar (D-CO) will be named the 50th Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior later this week by President-elect Barack Obama. Read more

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 Site, had insurance on just a portion of the property. As I detailed in this report, the time constraints of his battle with the Army had forced him to shutter his feed store, which he was in the process of selling. Investigators have ruled out arson. Read more

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 for another year. But opponents of the expansion are by no means breathing easy. Read more

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 a lukewarm supporter of Colorado ranchers in their fight with the Department of Defense as it seeks to expand the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site, U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar (D-CO) is feeling the heat now that the November elections are less than six weeks away. Read more

Pinon Canyon: The Opposition

Mack Louden’s most memorable feature isn’t his sunbaked skin or his steely eyes. It’s his determination. The man’s face is optimistically defiant, unbroken yet scarred, and colored by a tinge of melancholy and pessimism. Read more

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. 

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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 the size of the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site. Then lightning strikes ignited wildfires at Pinon Canyon that burned out of control on almost 50,000 acres on and off the range. Read more

Fire Fuels Pinon Canyon Debate

Lightning has struck twice. The Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site is front-page news yet again, only this time the focus of the controversy is not just eminent domain but wildfire. Read more

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 taking territory, shock and awe are not its most formidable weapons. As hundreds of ranchers in southern Colorado have learned, the big gun is eminent domain. Read more