Oregon standoff leader attends meeting, hears chants of ‘go’

Hundreds of people demonstrated in Portland, Ore., in opposition to the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

The leader of an armed group who took over a national wildlife refuge in southeastern OR weeks ago attended a tense community meeting and listened as residents chanted at him to “go, go, go”.

Reached by the AP on Wednesday, Ryan Bundy said he did not have the impression from the Tuesday night meeting that most people wanted the occupation to end.

People participating in the counterprotests, primarily birders, hikers and hunters, said they disagree with the Bundy’s proposed goal of forcing the federal government to allow local residents to take control of the land so it can be used for ranching, mining and logging.

“I’ve heard so many things I didn’t know before”, said local resident Jennifer Williams at a community meeting Tuesday. Myers said he participated in an Association of Oregon Counties conference call with Grasty and leaders of most Eastern Oregon counties the following day, discussing the possibility of the armed group migrating elsewhere. What this is, is an armed, criminal political occupation of public lands. Ann Finley, a member of the Great Old Broads for Wilderness, said that the refuge is a special place. An avid hiker, she drove 400 miles from her Walla Walla, Washington home to take part in a counter-protest at the headquarters of the wildlife refuge. Suckling appears to echo that sentiment and said the Bundys are part of a larger movement around the American West that aims to turn over millions of acres of public lands to developers, loggers, mining companies, and other corporations. Bundy, the son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy – who made headlines over his 2014 armed standoff with the federal government – sat in the bleachers of the Burns High School gymnasium. “We study, bowl, worship, commune, (occasionally drink) and interact with our fellow Harney County citizens – not as a “we vs. they” – but as an ‘us'”. It does not appear he persuaded many to follow his advice.

Discussion of the values and uses of public lands should and will continue, but it’s time to return the Malheur refuge to its legal occupiers. So, when it comes to the federal ownership of land, the government has got to go, but when it comes to putting money in Mr. Bundy’s pocket, the government is good.

The situation at the refuge is being carefully monitored by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents sent to the area, by Oregon State Police and by the local sheriff.

ThinkProgress asked Le Guin if she thought the Bundy militia would use their time occupying the refuge to write fiction. If they drive them off the refuge, they can probably count on being arrested.