thedrifter
10-25-08, 05:35 AM
Marines tell civilians base needs more land
By Stacy Moore / Hi-Desert Star Saturday, October 25, 2008 12:37 AM PDT
TWENTYNINE PALMS — Citizens got the opportunity to question Marines and Bureau of Land Management supervisors about a proposal to expand the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center by hundreds of thousands of acres during a public-information gathering Thursday afternoon in the Twentynine Palms Junior High School gymnasium.
“We’ve learned quite a bit about what the possibilities are,” said one of the meeting’s visitors, Jean Kays of Yucca Valley.
Officials in the know about the expansion set up stations along the interior of the gym, offering maps and graphics to illustrate the plan. Citizens were invited to roam from station to station, asking questions and filling out comment forms to be considered in the environmental impact report for the project.
Several of the visitors said while they appreciate the Marines’ position, they don’t want to give up land or live with the noise from additional training that would result from the expansion.
The proposed area covers much of the Johnson Valley off-roading recreational area.
“We want our Marines to have good training ground, but we don’t want to lose public access to recreational land,” said Kays. “We’re going to have to figure out how to have both and it’s not going to be an easy thing.”
Larry Johnston drove from Upland to Thursday’s meeting because he and his family own property on land in the Wonder Valley area that falls within the expansion proposal.
“I’m very concerned,” said Johnston. “My dad homesteaded five acres up here probably 50 years ago.” Now, he said, Johnston, his siblings and their cousins all own homesteads on adjoining properties there. “We’ve been coming up here since we were kids.”
The proposed expansion would stretch the Marine base to the south, west and east, and people from each direction went to the meeting wanting to know if their area could be exempted.
Marines at the meeting said the expansion is demanded by a change in the way the United States military trains and fights that started with the fall of the Soviet Union.
Part of the new strategy is to transform the training command at the Twentynine Palms base from a Marine Expeditionary Unit, comprising 1,500 to 3,000 men and women, to a Marine Expeditionary Brigade, with up to 20,000 men and women.
“MEBs are capable of deploying from ships and are large enough to handle the types of contingencies we now experience and will continue to see in the future,” was the statement on an information graphic set up for the public.
The Center for Naval Analysis conducted a study throughout the United States looking for the best way to accommodate new training needs for Marine brigades. “They concluded the best possible place … was in Twentynine Palms, as long as there were additional lands,” said Lt. Col. James McArthur.
The challenge, McArthur explained, is to secure enough land to allow the thousands of Marines in a brigade to train together.
“We don’t have a base that can support an MEB,” said the lieutenant colonel, who helps coordinate training aboard the Twentynine Palms base.
“It’s no longer acceptable to train elements of an MEB in separate parts of the country and then combine them when they deploy,” he said. “They need to train together.”
Most people at Thursday’s meeting were simply asking McArthur why the base needs more land. He said he hoped they would walk away with a better understanding of the Marine Corps’ needs and with a feeling that their concerns would be acknowledged.
“As this process goes on, it’s important to know what the stakeholders’ concerns are and as they look at proposed parcels, what they think the impacts will be,” he said.
“It’s important for us to sit down at the table and answer people’s questions,” he added. “We’re eager to work with the community on this.
The project is still in the study stage as an environmental impact report is constructed. Formal public meetings for the EIS process will be held in December. McArthur expects the entire process will take at most two years.
The environmental report, which will identify several alternatives to expand the Marine base or abandon the project, will be given to the Secretary of the Interior.
Ultimately, the expansion will be approved or denied by the United States Congress and then signed by the president of the United States.
Ellie
By Stacy Moore / Hi-Desert Star Saturday, October 25, 2008 12:37 AM PDT
TWENTYNINE PALMS — Citizens got the opportunity to question Marines and Bureau of Land Management supervisors about a proposal to expand the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center by hundreds of thousands of acres during a public-information gathering Thursday afternoon in the Twentynine Palms Junior High School gymnasium.
“We’ve learned quite a bit about what the possibilities are,” said one of the meeting’s visitors, Jean Kays of Yucca Valley.
Officials in the know about the expansion set up stations along the interior of the gym, offering maps and graphics to illustrate the plan. Citizens were invited to roam from station to station, asking questions and filling out comment forms to be considered in the environmental impact report for the project.
Several of the visitors said while they appreciate the Marines’ position, they don’t want to give up land or live with the noise from additional training that would result from the expansion.
The proposed area covers much of the Johnson Valley off-roading recreational area.
“We want our Marines to have good training ground, but we don’t want to lose public access to recreational land,” said Kays. “We’re going to have to figure out how to have both and it’s not going to be an easy thing.”
Larry Johnston drove from Upland to Thursday’s meeting because he and his family own property on land in the Wonder Valley area that falls within the expansion proposal.
“I’m very concerned,” said Johnston. “My dad homesteaded five acres up here probably 50 years ago.” Now, he said, Johnston, his siblings and their cousins all own homesteads on adjoining properties there. “We’ve been coming up here since we were kids.”
The proposed expansion would stretch the Marine base to the south, west and east, and people from each direction went to the meeting wanting to know if their area could be exempted.
Marines at the meeting said the expansion is demanded by a change in the way the United States military trains and fights that started with the fall of the Soviet Union.
Part of the new strategy is to transform the training command at the Twentynine Palms base from a Marine Expeditionary Unit, comprising 1,500 to 3,000 men and women, to a Marine Expeditionary Brigade, with up to 20,000 men and women.
“MEBs are capable of deploying from ships and are large enough to handle the types of contingencies we now experience and will continue to see in the future,” was the statement on an information graphic set up for the public.
The Center for Naval Analysis conducted a study throughout the United States looking for the best way to accommodate new training needs for Marine brigades. “They concluded the best possible place … was in Twentynine Palms, as long as there were additional lands,” said Lt. Col. James McArthur.
The challenge, McArthur explained, is to secure enough land to allow the thousands of Marines in a brigade to train together.
“We don’t have a base that can support an MEB,” said the lieutenant colonel, who helps coordinate training aboard the Twentynine Palms base.
“It’s no longer acceptable to train elements of an MEB in separate parts of the country and then combine them when they deploy,” he said. “They need to train together.”
Most people at Thursday’s meeting were simply asking McArthur why the base needs more land. He said he hoped they would walk away with a better understanding of the Marine Corps’ needs and with a feeling that their concerns would be acknowledged.
“As this process goes on, it’s important to know what the stakeholders’ concerns are and as they look at proposed parcels, what they think the impacts will be,” he said.
“It’s important for us to sit down at the table and answer people’s questions,” he added. “We’re eager to work with the community on this.
The project is still in the study stage as an environmental impact report is constructed. Formal public meetings for the EIS process will be held in December. McArthur expects the entire process will take at most two years.
The environmental report, which will identify several alternatives to expand the Marine base or abandon the project, will be given to the Secretary of the Interior.
Ultimately, the expansion will be approved or denied by the United States Congress and then signed by the president of the United States.
Ellie