Armed group takes over national wildlife refuge in rural Oregon

The remote high desert of eastern OR is the latest flashpoint for anti-government sentiment as armed protesters occupied a national wildlife refuge to object to a prison sentence for local ranchers for burning federal land.

An armed anti-government group took over a remote national wildlife refuge in OR as part of a decades-long fight over public lands in the West, while federal authorities are keeping watch but keeping their distance.

The occupation began after a demonstration in support of Dwight Hammond, 73, and his son Steven Hammond, 46, who were to report to California prison after a federal judge ruled that the sentences they had served for arson were not long enough under federal law.

The Hammonds were convicted of arson after lighting what they said was a controlled fire on their ranch in Harney County that spread to government land. Prosecutors, however, claim the Hammonds set the fire to cover up evidence of a poaching operation in which they were involved.

Bundy, along with his brother, Ryan, is part of the group that seized Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters Saturday after splintering off from a larger protest about ranchers’ rights in the small town of Burns.

“It has been provided for us to be able to come together and unite and make a hard stand against this overreach – this taking of the people’s land and resources”.

Bundy, 40, is the leader of the armed group protesting the prosecution of the Hammonds, and now occupying a federal wildlife building.

Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy’s son Ammon spoke to press, saying that the self-styled militia will not act in an aggressive manner and that they are there to “defend the people”.

According to the Congressional Research Service, in Nevada the US owned more than 81 percent of the state’s land in 2010. “I don’t really know the goal of the guys who are out there”, Susan Hammond told Oregon Public Broadcasting.

Since the appeal, the Hammonds’ case has become a cause celebre in the growing anti-government militia movement.

“We’re planning on staying here for years, absolutely”, Ammon Bundy told reporters over the weekend. He said the group calls itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom and has sent a “demand for redress” to local, state and federal officials.

Residents of the tiny town of Burns, 30 miles south of the wildlife refuge, are concerned about the potential for violence.

Those occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge centre in Burns say they plan to stay for years and may use violence if police try to evict them.

In a video posted to Facebook on Thursday, Ammon Bundy called on the members of “different militia groups” to participate in the protest on Saturday.

The group has said the takeover is in response to the government’s regulation of federal lands, which they believe infringes on their rights. Dwight Hammond Jr. says that he and his son plan to report to prison peacefully as they were ordered to do.

“We’re not used to this kind of thing here”, Burns resident Kainan Jordan told KTVZ.

Even Cliven Bundy, Ammon’s father, expressed his hesitation over the protests. They have been imprisoned once and must return for an additional term after federal appellate judges said they had been illegally sentenced the first time. However he says they shouldn’t be “misled by some outsiders who seem willing to take the law into their own hands”.

“I also think that the sheriff and the county and the city are all doing all that they can to manage the Bundy’s self-serving attention grabbing efforts in a way that prevents Harney County from becoming a rallying cry for every anti-government person in America”.