Rick Renzi denies any wrongdoing.

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A 480-acre retired farm on the San Pedro River, the subject of an investigation that threatens the career of U.S. Rep. Rick Renzi, could also threaten the future of Fort Huachuca, officials say.

There are concerns that the farm — the critical property in two failed land swaps aimed at protecting the San Pedro — could now be put back into agricultural use, jeopardizing efforts to balance water use in the region, which in turn could force cutbacks or even closure of the fort.

One of those land swaps is the basis of an investigation of Renzi, a Northern Arizona Republican.

The second involves a partnership headed by former Gov. Bruce Babbitt, which acquired the land. Since the second swap fell through, the Babbitt group is concerned it may be forced to resume irrigating the land or risk losing its water rights.

Critics say the first failed swap benefited James Sandlin, a friend and former business partner of Renzi's.

A federal grand jury recently convened in Tucson about the matter, authorizing a search warrant of a Renzi family insurance business in Sonoita. Renzi has denied any wrongdoing.

As furor grows over allegations Renzi used his influence to promote the deal, so, too, has concern about the future of the Sandlin property.

Because of its closeness to the San Pedro and the amount of water the retired farmland once used, the Sandlin property is crucial to the river and, in turn, neighboring Fort Huachuca, which is under court order to cut water consumption in and around the river.

"The fort's future and the future of the San Pedro are inextricably linked," said Col. Jonathan Hunter, the fort's garrison commander.

The San Pedro is the last free-flowing river in the Arizona desert and is home to up to 300 species of birds.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that in October, 2005, Renzi offered his support for a land-swap deal with Resolution Copper, a mining company that is interested in mining on federal land in Superior. In return for his support, Renzi wanted Resolution to buy Sandlin's 480-acre alfalfa field near Sierra Vista. The land is not in Renzi's district.

The deal never went through.

But a different group, Preserved Petrified Forest Group, did buy the land, for $4.5 million.

The group, which includes Babbitt and Tucson real estate developer Philip Aries, was seeking its own land swap deal with federal land near Florence.

Although the Petrified Forest Group bought the land, the swap fell through. Petrified Forest is now trying to sell the Sandlin property. The group is not under investigation, but Babbitt and Aries declined to comment.

One of the key questions in the probe, as reported by The Associated Press, the Washington Post and others, is whether Renzi profited from the sale of the Sandlin property.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Sandlin paid Renzi $200,000 the same day he received his first payment from the Petrified Forest Group.

Renzi's attorneys and staff did not return numerous phone calls Thursday and Friday.

Renzi, in denying any wrongdoing, has previously said he wanted to prevent encroaching development near Fort Huachuca and to protect the environmentally threatened San Pedro.

State Rep. Jonathan Paton, R-Tucson, who has never met Renzi, commented, "I don't know whether this was a crooked deal or not. But the connection that was made (in media reports) between the alfalfa field and national security is not a joke."

Paton trained at the fort before his own six-month deployment to Iraq as an Army intelligence officer during the last year.

Fort Huachuca is bound by an agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reduce the area's water use by 2011. A failure to reach a point of balance in water use that keeps the San Pedro flowing could result in fort closure or staff reduction.

As such, the Sandlin property was very important to the Upper San Pedro Partnership, a consortium of 21 government agencies, nonprofit groups and businesses in Southeast Arizona that is working to balance Sierra Vista's growth with the river's needs.

When it was used as an alfalfa field, the Sandlin property used about 1,500 acre-feet of water per year, said Don Pool, a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey who has worked in the Upper San Pedro for the last 20 years.

The 1,500 acre-feet of water translates into roughly a fifth of the river's flow during the winter, Pool said.

And because the field is only a half mile from the river, the effects of agricultural pumping will happen sooner than if it were further away from the river. "It was probably the exact worst place for the river," said Cochise County Supervisor Pat Call.

The Upper San Pedro Partnership, following the lead of partnership member The Nature Conservancy, tried to buy the land in the past, Call said.

"When you are using federal money, public money, you can't pay more than fair market value," Call said. "There was no way we could use public money to purchase it at that price (of roughly $4 million)."

Col. Hunter of Fort Huachuca said at the time the deal was pending that he welcomed the news that the property was going to fall into federal hands.

"To my knowledge, that particular parcel was the largest agricultural water-pumping use in the watershed. You are drawing water right from the aquifer and right into the fields," he said. "It looked like the property was going to transfer. Was that a value to the fort? Absolutely."

Now, the sales prospect for the fallow alfalfa field raises concern among officials because the property could be reverted to farmland or, although less damaging in terms of water use, be converted into a housing development.