The ranchers and other good folk down in southeastern Colorado are playing a little offense in their fight to keep the army from taking their lands.

From the Denver Post:

Ranchers sue Army on Piñon Canyon expansion
A group of southeastern Colorado ranchers sued the U.S. Army today in federal court in Denver, claiming the Army is playing a game of chess with its plans to expand its training grounds outside of Trinidad.

The lawsuit claims the Army drafted an environmental-impact statement only for new support buildings it plans to erect on the existing Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site without mentioning any plans of expanding the acreage of the site. The buildings include barracks, dining halls, motor pools, medical facilities, shooting and grenade ranges, according to attorney Stephen Harris, who represents the ranchers' group, Not 1 More Acre.

In 2006, the Army proposed expanding the 368-square-mile site to nearly 1,000 square miles. Ranchers say they fear the Army will use eminent domain to take their land rather than pay fair market value for it. They also say they won't sell their ranches, some of which were homesteaded in the 1800s.

Jean Aguerre, president of Not 1 More Acre, said today that the Army rarely uses the site, having conducted no more than 30 large training exercises there since 1985, or slightly more than one a year. Aguerre, who lives near the site, said the exercises never last more than one month and that the site is empty the rest of the year.

Good for them!