SBCT Final EIS - Govsupport.us

Chapter 3 ⎯ Affected Environmentthat protect the threatened short-grass prairie ecosystem and prevent incompatible land use along theinstallation’s boundary. To date, the FTC ACUB has protected more than 65,000 acres through innovativedeployment of the above-identified strategies. Of this total, permanent conservation easementshave been acquired or are currently under contract on 16,000 acres. As part of the ACUB, FTC haspartnered with TNC, El Paso County, USFWS, Colorado Department of Natural Resources, GreatOutdoors Colorado, Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT), and the Greater ColoradoSprings Economic Development Cooperation.Other land uses at FTC include two small clay mines in operation near Stone City. FTC is required bylaw to allow mining at existing sites provided that permittees continue to meet permit conditions(DECAM 2002a).According to the NRCS (USDA 1979), prime farmland designations occur within portions of El Paso,Fremont, and Pueblo Counties. No farming has ever occurred on FTC.Lands surrounding FTC include developed and undeveloped lands. Developed land and land plannedfor future development surround approximately the northern third of FTC. These lands are part of unincorporatedEl Paso County to the west, the City of Colorado Springs to the north and west, and Security-Widefieldand the City of Fountain to the east. Land use surrounding the southern portion ofthe installation consists primarily of undeveloped agricultural land. The town of Penrose, however, islocated west of the southwest corner of FTC.El Paso County recognizes FTC as a special land use dedicated for military training. Several areas inEl Paso County, including Turkey Canyon Ranch, Red Rock Valley Estates, El Rancho, and MidwayRanch, are located adjacent to FTC and zoned by the county as a residential land use. These areas areconsidered noise-sensitive land uses and are described in further detail in the Noise Section (Section3.3.11). El Paso County is responsible for regulating land use in these communities.The City of Fountain’s future land use plan indicates that business park, industrial, and parks andopen-space uses will abut the east boundary of FTC. While several small pockets of residential landuse will be maintained near FTC according to this plan, most of the existing land zoned for residentialuse near the installation’s eastern boundary will be changed to industrial or open space uses in the future(City of Fountain 2005).The City of Colorado Springs future land use plan indicates that the city plans to annex land adjacentto the western boundary of FTC near Gate 2. Land uses planned include general residential use to thewest and north of FTC, existing park/open space, and community activity centers (City of ColoradoSprings 2005). The entrance to the 1,680-acre Cheyenne Mountain State Park that is also located westof FTC is west of FTC Gate 1.3.3.5.2 Pinon Canyon Maneuver SiteThe PCMS is an approximately 235,000-acre Army site dedicated to training units stationed at, orotherwise under the responsibility of FTC. The PCMS is located in southeastern Colorado in LasAnimas County, approximately 150 miles southeast of FTC. The PCMS is bounded by U.S. 350 tothe west, Purgatoire River Canyon to the east, Las Animas County Road 54 to the south, and OteroCounty to the north. Lands south of PCMS are primarily privately owned undeveloped lands. Nearbycities include Trinidad to the southwest and La Junta to the northeast.PCMS is a military training facility. Land use on the PCMS has been divided into three primary categories:cantonment, training areas, and non-military/recreation uses. The cantonment consists of de-February 2008 3–157 2/25th SBCT Final EIS