Armed group says it has accessed government files at refuge

The occupation of a national wildlife area in OR by a small, armed group upset over federal land policies is entering its second week.

The armed men who have occupied a federal wildlife refuge here escalated their defiance of the federal government on Monday, using bare hands and a Wildcat excavator stolen from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to rip apart a barbed-wire fence erected by the government at a far end of the vast refuge.

The occupiers asked the Three Percenters to leave, saying they plan on staying until the federal land is turned over to local control and ranchers Dwight and Steve Hammond are released from their extended prison sentences.

At the same time, Mr. Ivory, who has pushed for state legislation to start the process of transferring lands to the states, said he understands what motivates such protests, citing the “deep frustration” over the federal government’s vast property holdings.

VICE News traveled to Harney County, Oregon to meet with militia leaders, attend town hall meetings, and speak with local ranchers whom the protesters claim to be representing. Last year’s Umpqua Community College shooting occurred in Heard’s district, and Heard said he wanted to prevent a similar outbreak of violence.

“If they take down the fences, it hurts the refuge, but it also destroys the positive conservation impacts reaped from decades of direct collaboration” by the community, including ranchers, Holm said.

Harney County Judge Steven Grasty, another local official, says he too advised Bentz against the visit. It wasn’t clear who the other elected officials were.

Members of the Pacific Patriots Network, a network of groups from Oregon, Washington and Idaho, arrived to the refuge on Saturday carrying rifles and sidearms and wearing bulletproof vests and military attire. Heard did not return a call Sunday from The Associated Press. The militia’s core members, led by Nevada resident Ammon Bundy, removed about 25 or 30 yards of fence near the occupation, according to The Oregonian.

The standoff is the latest in tensions between the feds’ management of Western lands.

About 50 percent of the land west of the Rocky Mountains is federally owned, versus about 5 percent of the land east of that.

“I think it’s divided a lot of people”, Edwards said.

Be Civil – It’s OK to have a difference in opinion but there’s no need to be a jerk.