An interesting article was recently published in the Ag Journal about an organization called Not 1 More Acre, who is fighting to keep the United States Army from claiming their pasture land. Check out an excerpt of the story below, and let me know what you think…

Nearly 400 people packed the Koshare Kiva Saturday to hear Baxter Black, America’s most recognizable cowboy poet and storyteller, perform a benefit for the Not 1 More Acre organization. Not 1 More Acre has filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Denver to stop the U.S. Army from expanding Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site. Briefs have been filed in district court and are being reviewed by Judge Richard Matsch, who hasn’t issued a statement on how he might let the case proceed.

The event Saturday night, though, was to help the threesome who started Not 1 More Acre – rancher Mack Louden, Jim Herrwll from Otero Junior College, and Jean Aguerre from the Trinidad area – offset the tremendous costs in fighting the legal battles in court.

The biggest difference Army officials who have proposed expanding its 238,000-acre maneuver site in Las Animas County is that, “They will look you in the eye and tell you, ‘It’s not personal.”

“Anytime you put up with your land being taken, you tell them, ‘It’s personal,’” Black said. “We are of the land … from the glimmer of hope in our parents’ eyes to the grave.”

Black said it’s personal because the land forces those who own it to take care of it daily. It is the focus of their livelihood.