Oregon Land Dispute Highlights Broader Debate On Federal Land

“This is about furthering an extremist right-wing agenda”, Barrett Kaiser, a Montana resident and a representative of the Center for Western Priorities said, as supporters of Bundy tried to interrupt him and argue with him.

Bundy met Thursday with Harney County Sheriff David Ward, who asked Bundy to heed the will of locals and leave the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Ammon Bundy hasn’t provided exact numbers but it’s believed there are about two dozen people involved – some from as far away as Arizona and MI.

Federal and county law enforcement officials have declined to comment on their response to the occupation and have not said whether any warrants have been signed.

Law enforcement authorities including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and sheriff’s deputies from across the state have converted the Burns junior high school into a makeshift command post with around-the-clock security. She said she’s not sure what she thinks of the armed protesters.

The small group of armed anti-government activists occupying a remote wildlife preserve in Oregon’s high desert gave visitors free access to the snowy site Monday, allowing some local residents and ranchers in to… With the takeover entering its fourth day Wednesday, authorities had not removed the group…

Rodrique said the area was a wintering ground for the Paiute people prior to the coming of settlers, ranchers and trappers.

The tribe said it has never ceded its right to the land but received federal recognition in 1868 and signed a treaty with the federal government that requires it to protect the safety of the natives and promised to prosecute any crime or injury perpetrated by any white man upon them.

One of the main reasons for their taking over the facility is in protest of the mandatory minimum sentencing of father and son ranchers, Dwight and Steven Hammond, who were sent to prison for committing arson to cover up illegal poaching the pair had done on federally owned land.

“I promised the community we’d have a peaceful rally”, he said.

“Don’t tell me any of these ranchers came across the Bering Strait”, said the tribal chairwoman, Charlotte Rodrique, referring to the ancient Ice Age land bridge between North America and Asia that was the conduit for native migration of the Americas.

Two of Bundy’s sons are among the armed militia members who took over the building on Saturday and Ammon Bundy has been identified as a leader of the group. But the county sheriff has told the activists to go home, and many locals don’t want the group around, fearing they may bring trouble. Late Tuesday, the group moved a large plow vehicle to block the refuge’s driveway. But environmentalists and others say USA officials should keep control for the broadest possible benefit to business, recreation and the environment. While this raises numerous questions about the Second Amendment, the heart of the issue isn’t guns or militias, it’s the federal government’s management of the public domain: the millions of acres of land that are owned by all Americans. “We manage it the best we can for its owners, the people, and whether it’s for recreating, for grazing, for energy and mineral development”.

The federal government controls about half of all land in the West, which would make the wholesale transferof ownership extremely hard and expensive.

OR congressman, Greg Walden seconds that.

One of the reasons for the occupation, according to organizers, is that the community has not been able to stand up for itself. “They need to go home and get out of here”. A community meeting was scheduled for later Wednesday.

They are protesting the sentencing of two OR ranchers to five years in a federal prison after they were convicted of arson for setting fire to federal lands.

Many residents of Burns see the occupation as the work of outsiders, and the Hammonds’ lawyers have sought to dissociate themselves from the protesters.