How convenient! Even as Representative Wes McKinley and southeastern Colorado ranchers were complaining about the Army's revised plans to take part of Pinon Canyon for a training facility, a ranch family was revealing that they had had found a rare, albino eagle on their Pinon Canyon property. After KOA radio reported the find, it was picked up by the Drudge Report.
And from there, you can expect opposition to take flight. Moral of this story: f you want to save an endangered piece of land, no better way to do it than to come up with a rare, endangered bird.
For the record, here's the statement McKinley released today:
“I am completely opposed to the Army’s taking away of our land, whether it is for one acre or 400,000 acres in Piñon Canyon. Our way of life is at stake here, not just our land. Although the Army says 100,000 acres is enough for now, what happens in 15 years when they want another 300,000 acres? As it did when the training site was established in the 1980s, the Army is using brute force to get what they want. They will not be bettering our community. Instead, they are bullying landowners into giving up their land. If we allow the Army to proceed (which we will not do), their hostile taking will injure our wildlife, pollute our land, and forcefully takeaway the livelihood of fellow Coloradans.”
Unless an albino eagle can prove it has the white stuff. -- Patricia Calhoun
