Success Quote by Wayne Allard

A “buffer zone” is bureaucratic poetry: it turns a messy political bargain into something that sounds clean, technical, and inevitable. Wayne Allard’s line is doing two jobs at once. On the surface, it’s a feel-good synthesis - national security and environmental stewardship, hand in hand on the Colorado prairie. Underneath, it’s a preemptive defense against the inevitable accusation that the military is elbowing out local land use, conservation priorities, or community growth.

The intent is explicit: protect Fort Carson’s “training mission” by insulating it from encroachment, lawsuits, and the slow creep of suburban development that can turn live-fire ranges into political liabilities. “Preserving critical habitats” is the rhetorical sweetener that broadens the coalition: conservation groups, hunters, and regional planners can all hear something they want. Notice the careful phrasing “on our ranges” - habitat protection is framed not as a constraint on the military, but as something the military already owns and manages responsibly.

The subtext is about legitimacy and replication. Allard isn’t just selling a local solution; he’s pitching a national template, an “example for other bases,” which signals federal ambition and invites funding, easements, and policy alignment. In the post-1990s era of base realignment anxieties and rising environmental regulation, this kind of language reassures both Pentagon brass and constituents: the base stays operational, the landscape stays “protected,” and the politics stay palatable.