Navy wants bigger survival training site in Warner Springs; hearing scheduled on proposal to double acreage

By: JOE BECK - Staff Writer | Tuesday, October 17, 2006 1:50 AM PDT ∞

WARNER SPRINGS -- A public hearing on a proposal to more than double the acreage of the Navy's survival school in northeast San Diego County has been scheduled for Thursday in Warner Springs.

The hearing, part of an environmental review process to identify environmental issues related to the proposed expansion, is scheduled from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the training camp, 34567 Highway 79. Representatives of three other governmental agencies affected by the proposal ---- the Cleveland National Forest, the Bureau of Land Management and the Vista Irrigation District ---- are scheduled to attend the hearing to explain the proposal and take comments from the public.

The proposal calls for expanding the training site from the current 6,100 acres to 12,500 acres in the harsh, remote landscape that straddles Highway 79 outside of Warner Springs.

The Cleveland National Forest, Bureau of Land Management and Vista Irrigation District own separate parts of the land. They allow the Navy to use it to teach survival skills to members of the military ---- pilots, air crews and special forces members ---- who face an above-average risk of capture by hostile forces behind enemy lines. The training school is used mostly by the Navy and Marines, though it is also open to members of the Air Force and Army.

Nearly all of the land at the training site is open to the public under terms set by the land management bureau, the national forest and irrigation district.

The 1,500 service members who train at the site each year undergo exercises designed to train troops to cope with fatigue, fear, hunger, thirst, temperature, pain and boredom. The Web site for the training site describes exercises in which trainees learn how to purify water, identify edible plants, make shelters out of parachute fabric, and trap small animals and prepare them for cooking and eating.

"It provides the natural cover that these pilots and crewmen would use in a real situation," said Steve Fiebing, public affairs officer for Naval Base Coronado in San Diego.

The training also involves simulated captures and prisoner-of-war situations designed to teach troops how to survive if imprisoned by enemy troops.

Fiebing said the Navy needs the extra land to train an undetermined number of additional sailors and Marines amid continuing conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq and worsening tensions elsewhere.

"The number is vague on purpose," he said. "As the military increases operations around the world, we need to have trained forces to meet that demand."

Fiebing said there are no plans for the Navy to build more roads or structures on the site, which currently includes a headquarters area with an administrative building, several barracks, a wastewater treatment plant and a training compound.

Officials with the Cleveland National Forest and the Vista Irrigation District said their agencies have had good relations with the Navy ever since the training site was established in the 1970s. The land management bureau and national forest have agreements that allow the Navy to use the land; the irrigation district, which owns and operates a dam at nearby Lake Henshaw, leases its land to the Navy.

"They've been good tenants. We've gotten along well," said Don Smith, director of water resources for the irrigation district.

Fiebing said the proposal involves the Navy giving up some land it currently uses and moving into other terrain not currently covered by existing agreements. Some of the current land has been used so heavily that it has lost some of its value for survival training, he said.

Joan Wynn, a spokeswoman for the Cleveland National Forest, said the Navy will compile an environmental assessment report that it will submit to her agency and the Bureau of Land Management for review. Each will then decide whether to issue a permit.

"Our permit will cover only national forest land," Wynn said.

Those wishing to attend the hearing should follow Interstate 5, then exit on State Route 79 and travel east about 30 miles. The Navy facility is located one mile past the Sunshine Summit Convenience store on the left.

-- Contact staff writer Joe Beck at (760) 740-3516 or jbeck@nctimes.com.

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