Marines to conduct Gregory Canyon exercise; environmentalists criticize plan to conduct training at old dairy
By: DAVE DOWNEY - Staff Writer | ∞
A U.S. Marine Emergency Response member removes a mock victim from a contaminated scene Wednesday during an exercise where a mock terrorist was able to smuggle a tanker truck loaded with chlorine gas on base and detonated it.
NICK MORRIS For The North County Times
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NORTH COUNTY -- An old dairy at the planned Gregory Canyon landfill will become an anti-terror training ground next month for 40 to 60 Marines from Camp Pendleton, a military official said Wednesday.
Local environmentalists said they are worried the exercise could damage the fragile environment near the San Luis Rey River or ignite a wildfire in a tinder-dry area at one of the driest times of the year. Marine officials said care will be taken to avoid starting fires and damaging the environment.
County officials said they do not believe there will be damage at the site, which after a decade of controversy and legal challenges has been approved for a landfill.
"We reviewed it and determined that there was no environmental impact from this activity," said Jack Miller, assistant director for the San Diego County Department of Environmental Health.
Opponents of the training aren't sure about that, and they say the site is the wrong location for a military exercise.
"I'm kind of at a loss to understand why this would happen," said Everett DeLano, an Escondido attorney with the North County environmental group RiverWatch. "I thought there was this thing called Camp Pendleton up there that had some ground for training."
With the goal of gauging how well the Marines would perform in unfamiliar territory, such as they might encounter in Iraq or some other foreign country, the exercise was moved off the nearby 125,000-acre base, said Master Sgt. Wayne Jones, chief of training and experimentation for the I Marine Expeditionary Force. Jones said he is also a military liaison for the FBI, which is involved in the exercise.
"They've been training together for six months already, and they have been doing that on base. They have become very familiar with the training area," Jones said in a telephone interview Wednesday. "This way we will know that they really are ready to do a real-world operation in an unfamiliar area."
Jones said the practice operation will begin July 28, with actors and instructors posing as terrorists taking over the Verboom dairy house and reconnaissance teams watching them from a distance. On those days, fewer than 10 people will be involved in the exercise.
Then on the evening of July 30, Jones said, a team of Marines from the 11th Marine Expeditionary Force and a single FBI agent will conduct a raid lasting 60 to 90 minutes. Two to four helicopters will place dozens of team members on the ground. After using a small explosive or a mechanical instrument to bust through a door, rifle-toting team members will round up the fake terrorists, he said.
Jones said the noise may travel a half-mile, but no farther. He said the small explosive is about as loud as "a large firecracker," and the practice rifle fire will be kept inside the building.
There will be no dramatic explosions or fires visible, Jones said.
"It's nothing as exciting as you would see on television," he said.
Still, the idea of a military exercise on the landfill is disturbing to Ruth Harber, secretary-treasurer of RiverWatch and a nearby resident.
"I am very upset," Harber said. "You know how dangerous it is to shoot in these dry conditions. The fire could run up the canyon and destroy the Medicine Rock of the Pala Band (of Mission Indians), burn up the sacred mountain and burn up all the properties on the south side of the mountain where I live."
Medicine Rock is a boulder at the base of Gregory Mountain, which is held to be sacred by local American Indians.
Richard Chase, chief executive officer for Gregory Canyon Ltd., the business partnership that owns the 1,770-acre landfill site, said the partnership was contacted two or three months ago by the Marines and FBI.
"We're just trying to be accommodating to a polite request," he said. "We assumed that it would be a good, useful thing."
Chase said the partnership is not being paid. Jones said the same thing.
"He's not being compensated in any way," Jones said of Chase.
The Marine master sergeant said measures will be taken to prevent a fire. Besides limiting rifle fire to inside the building, the explosion would entail using a charge mixed with a water-gel formula that puts out flames, he said. Fire extinguishers will be available if things get out of hand.
There is cleared vegetation next to the house and the nearest thicket of brush is 150 feet away, Jones said.
The fire issue aside, RiverWatch is concerned about the potential for damaging habitat that has been deemed suitable for the endangered arroyo toad.
"Troops trample all over the place," Harber said.
Jones said organizers will limit activities to 10 or 15 acres, and steer the team away from sensitive habitat.
Jones also said the Marines will avoid damaging the old farm structure by framing a temporary structure with a door, to avoid busting through the door of the house itself.
-- Contact staff writer Dave Downey at (760) 740-5442 or ddowney@nctimes.com.
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Pro Marine wrote on Jun 21, 2007 1:56 AM:Thank you Gregory Canyon! It is so sad these Anti Marines cry about a toad!!! This Riverwatch Group sooooo CRAZY! Again, Thank You Gregory Canyon for allowing young Marines to get the best training possible!
Al wrote on Jun 21, 2007 6:02 AM:Let's hope that next time we have to place troops in harms way that we don't have to have an environmental impact study done first. We could all be dead by the time that is completed.
boom wrote on Jun 21, 2007 6:10 AM:Who cares let them train and blow the place up. I wouldn't mind driving over to watch that.
Vista Granny wrote on Jun 21, 2007 8:06 AM:For all we know, that toad could be the link which holds all life together. To casually dismiss the possible extinction of any species is to demonstrate your ignorance. The marines certainly deserve the best training possible, but is this really necessary? And, why is the FBI involved? Yes, I voted against the landfill.
Fred H wrote on Jun 21, 2007 8:21 AM:In the 50's & 60's in Oceanside, hearing the pounding of bombs in the distance from Pendleton never caused much of a fuss really. Occasionally a jet broke the sound barrier, and there were no 911 switchboards to light-up either. The memory of WWII wash fresh in our minds. A success largely due to the efforts of our jarheaded neighbors to the North. If you don't like it here? Move back to New Jersey or something!
msfreeh wrote on Jun 21, 2007 9:45 AM:The Posse Comitatus Act is a United States federal law (18 U.S.C. § 1385) passed on June 16, 1878 after the end of Reconstruction. The Act was intended to prohibit Federal troops from supervising elections in former Confederate states. It generally prohibits Federal military personnel and units of the United States National Guard under Federal authority from acting in a law enforcement capacity within the United States, except where expressly authorized by the Constitution or Congress. The Posse Comitatus Act and the Insurrection Act substantially limit the powers of the Federal government to use the military for law enforcement. The original act referred only to the United States Army. The Air Force was added in 1956, and the Navy and the Marine Corps have been included by a regulation of the Department of Defense. This law is often mentioned when it appears that the Department of Defense is interfering in domestic disturbances.
me wrote on Jun 21, 2007 10:23 AM:Didn't you read "SACRED"! Doesn't anyone have any respect for sacred land? How would you like your sacred land trampled and desecrated? Have some respect!!!
Marines rule; Treehuggers drool wrote on Jun 21, 2007 11:31 AM:Semper fi Marines! You can level that old dairy for all I care. These treehuggers are a funny bunch. Thye wouldn't be complaining if the eco-terrorist friends at the Earth Liberation Front were torching the old dairy. Maybe the treehuggers are upset because some of this anti-terrorism training by the Marines and the FBI could eventually be used to take down their radical eco-terrorist friends.
Me Too wrote on Jun 21, 2007 12:02 PM:Sacred???? An abandon barn and house is Sacred??? Stop the hysteria and let our military practice in a new location. A new location allows them to practice a raid where the Marine is challenge in a safe environment before going over seas? A hand full of whiners should ...support our men and women in the U.S. Marine Corp. That is Sacred!k
USMC wrote on Jun 21, 2007 12:13 PM:Lets see…fly under darkness…kick in a door…shoot a bad guy….go home. Where do I sign up?
Former Marine wrote on Jun 21, 2007 12:31 PM:They make movies all over Southern California with far more disruption than this. Why not protest that rather than training that might help save marine lives, civilian lives or possibly our own life.
Toads? wrote on Jun 21, 2007 12:41 PM:Wow, maybe the rats in your house hold the secret link that holds all life together, but I bet you don't want them in there either. Seriously, all these people that try to save one species are ... if they don't think that species change and evolve. It has happened throughout history, not every species (including humans) will live on forever. They may evolve into something that will, who knows. I get tired of hearing about saving the bat winged red tail green speckled sparrows when there are plenty of sparrows out there that just have a different color.
to me wrote on Jun 21, 2007 1:05 PM:Didn't you read that the sacred land was close to the training site, not at the training site? Sorry but I can't respect your ignorance!
Environmentalist??? wrote on Jun 21, 2007 2:18 PM:Where are these folks when it comes to the Granite quarries in Fallbrook and SouthWest Riverside County? I'm sure there's a few toads that will be trampled by Granite's bulldozers.
Peter wrote on Jun 21, 2007 2:37 PM:The treehuggers don’t really understand about using and protecting natural resources, they think that any use damages the environment. They need to realize that any mention of an endangered species is likely to fall on deaf ears if the radical Islamo-fascists win and are running things. Not to mention, how much of their precious wildlife would already be gone if it wasn’t for all the protection of vegetation and wildlife at Camp Pendleton, Mirarmar, etc.
Great ! wrote on Jun 21, 2007 2:42 PM:I support our great military, but I can assure you lookylou's are going to crash as they turn there eyes to watch and crash. A head-on, or maybe into the side of the hill or other dairy buildings.
NIMBYs calling wrote on Jun 21, 2007 4:44 PM:Ruth Harber, a nearby resident? If this area is so pristine with sacred rocks and endangered toads, why is she living there? Just another NIMBY, who with her fellow NIMBY’s, invented an environmental group in an attempt to kill the landfill and anything else that threatens their lifestyle. There is nothing wrong with that, but just come out and say it. Say, I don’t want the Marines here because they make me nervous and the stink of a landfill will make my morning coffee taste bad.
Come On!! wrote on Jun 21, 2007 5:11 PM:I guess all the homeless living along the river have no affect on the environment. Their fecal matter, garbage and lets not forget the numerous fires they have set over the years. Instead, the usuall liberals take aim at the responsible people.
Kissed too many frogs wrote on Jun 21, 2007 6:06 PM:Hey I love the environment and the trees and want to save the endangered species, but gimme a break. The marines are training so that they can save people's lives. Riverwatch Group, get a clue. It's when you go koo-koo over protecting the environment at the expense of common sense is when you drive support away from your cause. One day with a few marines is not gonna ruin anything. It's not like their turning the whole thing into a military base or something. Snap out of it. Off to hug some trees...
Sickening wrote on Jun 21, 2007 6:38 PM:These comments overall are sickening. They fail to understand the area, the environment and habitat. Anyone who has ever fired a gun knows that fragments of the lead bullet spray all over the place. Then birds and other animals eat this stuff and it affects the entire ecosystem. There is plenty of land on the Marine base for them to 'save lives- this is an outrage! Without an environmental waiver this cannot happen. Who got paid off?
Fred H wrote on Jun 21, 2007 6:41 PM:Remember: If it were not for the heroics of the USMC, we would all be communicating today in Japanese! Tree huggers go back to Northern CA, twist up a fat spleef and eat some bean sprouts.
Re Sickening wrote on Jun 21, 2007 6:57 PM:They don't shot live rounds, so there is no lead left behind... By the way, why do you know so much about gun spray... you must own a gun to protect yourself. You sound like a hypocrite!!!
To Sickening wrote on Jun 21, 2007 6:59 PM:First of all, fragments do not go all over the place when you shoot a gun. Second, they are propably not going to be firing real rounds at each other. The fireworks on the 4th of July way more to affect the eco-system than this little excercise. I am for keeping the oceanse, streams and environment clean. But this excercise will not affect anything except, maybe, a little bit o noise which is the sound of freadom!!
Samuel wrote on Jun 21, 2007 8:33 PM:Wow! Next thing you know, these people will be say don't kill the roaches. instead, treat them like family and hold them near and dear to your heart. Get a grip people, this toad thing is crazy. But lets satisfy this group. Ok, the Marines are practicing incase the need to move in on terrorist if they try to steal a toad. Ok, Marines you can do it now. Craziness!
Gary wrote on Jun 21, 2007 8:37 PM:OOOOOOHHHH mighty and sacred toad.... Please allow with your toadness, these Marines to practice what they need to do... Next they can move to French Valley where they can battle the butterfly, and then to riverside where they can save the princess. Game Over.
John wrote on Jun 21, 2007 9:20 PM:This is just more federal crap in our lap. Pendelton is the largest military reservation around, and they can't practice there? I'm not buying it. What the heck are we prepping them for? Are there lots of abandoned dairies in Baghdad? Why are we even in Iraq? Stop spending my tax money on these stupid war games. It is not making me free - it is a financial burden. We aren't even winning in Iraq!!! Get us out!!
John wrote on Jun 21, 2007 9:22 PM:It's not the sound of freedom. It's the sound of your tax dollars being blown to smithereens.
Concerned wrote on Jun 21, 2007 9:36 PM:And to think our Marines (all branches of the armed forces for that matter) fight for our freedom so Ruth Harber and Riverwatch can protect toads. Ruth needs to visit a clue shop right away and get her priorities straight.
JR wrote on Jun 21, 2007 9:53 PM:Next time you see a Marine - thank him for your freedom... then thank an American business owner for paying his salary.
Roy wrote on Jun 21, 2007 10:12 PM:When was the last time that that area burned? Fire is an important part of Southern California's ecosystems and if that area has not seen fire in 40 or 80 or 120 years then it is probably unnaturally thick with brush and if that is the case then the Marines will probably do the ecology there favor by starting a fire. Let it burn boys and let nature take its course.
John Sr. wrote on Jun 21, 2007 10:43 PM:Johnny Boy, how many times have Aero Squadron flown over Camp Pen to an every location? A lot!! I am sure Camp Pen. has many villages built for training, and they have probably used them at least 10 to 15 times each. The pilots have flown every possible pattern that could be flown. Now they are going to fly to a location that they have never flown…and it will be new to the recon team … and so on and so on… Do you get it Johnny Boy? You practice and practice and practice so when you are in Afghanistan and things are going ugly, you training kicks in and keeps you alive… I hope nothing will happen to our Marines, but if this training saves one life it is worth one frog!
Vista Granny wrote on Jun 23, 2007 9:53 AM:Toads are not cockroaches!Toads aren't scred. Toads probably eat cockroaches. Toads are a link in the food chain -- so are you!
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