And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: from pechanga.net Range tug-of-war Desert control issues abound http://www.azcentral.com/news/0808afrange.shtml Range tug-of-war Desert control issues abound By Jennifer Barrett The Arizona Republic Aug. 8, 1999 Pointing out the window of an Army helicopter, Terry Hansen turns and shouts, "See how pretty everything is?" Nearly 2.7 million acres of desert stretch below him. Under cloudless skies, stiff-armed saguaros stand guard over clusters of creosote bushes and cactus blooms. There are no cars, roads or houses in sight, not even a fence. The helicopter has just crossed into the Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range, the world's busiest military training range. "You can't even tell where it begins!" Hansen, assistant airspace manager for the training range, shouts over the whir of the Blackhawk's swirling blades. The same could be said of management responsibilities for the range. A 1941 presidential decree set aside the 2.7 million acres of Sonoran Desert in southern Arizona for military training. Since then, it has been used to train thousands of pilots for war. "There are a lot of groups who will never be happy until we are out of there," said Gary Blake, airspace manager for Luke Air Force Base. Environmentalists, government officials and Native Americans are arguing over who should control what may be the largest undeveloped area in Arizona. The training range stretches from Ajo to Yuma, from Gila Bend to the Mexican border. At stake are issues as far flung as Tohono O'odham spirituality, antelope habitat, the survival of the state's military bases and billions of dollars in revenue. On Thursday, a congressional committee cast a vote that could shape the range's future. It voted to extend the military's lease on the range for 25 more years. Without the extension, which still must be approved by the full Congress, the property would revert to public use in 2001. Hansen was among those who praised the vote Friday. "We're very happy," he said. "We're looking forward to maintaining (the range) and being stewards of the land." Since 1986, the Bureau of Land Management has managed the range's cultural and natural resources, but it allows the military to train over 6 percent of the land. The BLM shares overall management duties with various agencies, including the Air Force, Marine Corps and National Guard, Department of Fish and Wildlife and the U.S. Border Patrol. Critics say the mix of managers has added layers of bureaucracy and taken attention away from preserving the land and its inhabitants. The Department of Interior has acknowledged that a different management structure would be more efficient. It supports the proposal approved Thursday that would transfer primary control for the range from the Interior Department to the Defense Department. That means, as early as next year, the Defense Department could take over primary management for about 1.6 million acres, everything but the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge and an additional 110,000 acres along the range border. "It doesn't make sense to me; it's a sneak attack on public lands," said Dean Bibles, Arizona BLM director from 1982 to 1989, adding that the proposal was never publicly debated. Bibles prefers a proposal to turn management of the range over to the National Park Service. It would designate those areas not used by the military as the Sonoran Desert National Park. "We're realistic. The military has been there 60 years," said Tucson teacher Bill Broyles, who is leading the national park effort. "What we're trying to do is figure out a better way to manage the land." Sen John McCain, R-Ariz., also had hoped to turn the range into a park or refuge. He said Friday that he was disappointed that the budget agreement did not include a study of alternative management plans, which he intends to pursue. But McCain is comfortable with the proposal because "the provisions in the bill appropriately balance the need for continued military training with adequate protection of the natural and cultural resources on the range." Broyles said it doesn't make sense for the Defense Department to manage the land. "Land management is not the DOD's area of expertise. This is like asking the Department of the Interior to fight a war," he said. Bibles and Broyles also propose the merger of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and the Cabreza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge into a new Sonoran Desert National Park, with the Goldwater range being incorporated into a national preserve. "This is the most pristine block of Sonoran Desert left. It is absolutely beautiful. By taking care of it now, we can have one of the premier parks in the world," Broyles said. The Tohono O'odham Nation, which borders the eastern portion of the range, wants to control the range. It has historical, spiritual and cultural importance to the tribe's 23,000 members. Two years ago, the Tribal Council passed a resolution asking that the range be "returned" to the tribe when the military's renewal of the land came up before Congress. Until then, leaders said they would settle for the four border areas the military has agreed to release, and an additional parcel that touches their reservation, roughly 125,000 acres. Military officials said it's not up to them to decide what to do with land that no longer serves a military purpose, Hansen said. "The Air Force is not in the land business," he said, adding that that responsibility falls to Interior Department officials. Thursday's extension calls for study on whether to relinquish land to the tribe. It also makes formal a range oversight committee and requires that the committee include state, local and tribal officials. Even if the O'odham's request for the land is granted, it could take two years or more. Tribal leaders say, after so many years, that they are willing to wait. "Eventually, they (the government) will run out of reasons not to give the land back to us," Chairman Edward Manual said. In the meantime, tribal leaders have asked that the military cease its training. Military officials argue that they cannot adequately protect the country if they don't have a place to train their pilots, some of whom were sent to combat in the Persian Gulf and Kosovo within a few months of completing their training. Air Force, Marine Corps and National Guard units use the range to teach pilots how to dogfight, shoot targets and drop bombs. It is the second-largest military training ground in the country behind Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. But Goldwater gets the most use. About 70,000 sorties are flown over the range each year from bases throughout the Southwest, including five in Arizona. Environmentalists want Congress to assess the damage to the environment and the wildlife caused by a half-century of military training. Goldwater, environmentalists say, is the most biologically diverse range in the world, with more than 525 kinds of plants and animal species, 20 of them proposed or listed as threatened or endangered. The extension included a requirement for an environmental review of the range every five years. Defenders of Wildlife filed a lawsuit in June charging that the agencies now managing the range have failed to protect the endangered Sonoran pronghorn antelope. The 330,000-member, non-profit group recommends Congress study the effects of low-level Border Patrol planes and military training on the antelope before renewing the lease. But a recent study says the military training has helped the pronghorn antelope population by unintentionally stimulating growth of a certain weed that antelope eat. Military officials say they know of no pronghorns killed by artillery. As part of a settlement in a 1996 Defenders of Wildlife lawsuit, they agreed to divert or cancel training if antelope were spotted below. Brig. Gen. John Barry, Luke commander, said at least 125 sorties were redirected or canceled last year because of antelope sightings. Without the range, Barry and commanders of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson and the Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma fear their bases likely would close. "For us to find an identical training range would be impossible," Hansen said. According to recent estimates, the bases pump $3.5 billion into the state's economy. An Arizona State University West study found that Luke's economic impact accounts for more than half the amount. Lucy Shipp, a member of the Yuma County Board of Supervisors and a Yuma resident for more than 30 years, said Yuma's Marine Station provides roughly a quarter of the city's economy. "It's more than just dollars," she added. "They are a part of us. It'd be like cutting off an arm or a leg to lose them." *** Reporters Susie Steckner and Shaun McKinnon contributed to this article. Jennifer Barrett can be reached at (602) 444-7113 or at [EMAIL PROTECTED] via e-mail. Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ UPDATES: CAMP JUSTICE http://shell.webbernet.net/~ishgooda/oglala/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
