Authorities Monitoring Situation at Oregon Wildlife Refuge Involving Son of Cliven Bundy

An unpredictable new chapter in the wars over federal land use in the West unfolded on Sunday after a group of armed activists split off from an earlier protest march and occupied part of a national wildlife refuge in remote southeastern Oregon.

The protesters went to Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday following a peaceful rally in support of two OR ranchers facing additional prison time for arson.

His brother Ryan and others in the group have demanded that the Hammonds, who have been ordered to report Monday to a federal prison, be spared jail and that the government relinquish control of the Malheur reserve. The Hammonds maintained it was to protect their property from invasive plants and wildfires.

But witnesses at their trial said that Steven Hammond, leading a hunting party, had illegally slaughtered deer on federal property then handed out matches in order to “light up the whole country on fire”, according to a Justice Department statement.

“These men came to Harney County claiming to be part of militia groups supporting local ranchers, when in reality these men had alternative motives to attempt to over throw the county and federal government in hopes to spark a movement across the United States”, Ward said in a statement. Militia members at the refuge claimed to have as many as 150 supporters with them.

Sheriff Ward told people to stay away from the building as authorities work to defuse the situation, The Oregonian reported.

“We’re not there to do any harm”, the elder Bundy said.

OK, again I’m calling for all patriots to come here, stand with us, if you don’t want to go into the refuge you can still be right out here on this open, public land.

In tearful video published on YouTube on New Year’s Eve, he sits in his vehicle in military-style clothing and explains to his wife and daughter that he can not be at home for the holidays because he swore an oath to defend the U.S. constitution against all enemies, “foreign and domestic”.

After the peaceful rally was completed today, a group of outside militants drove to the Malheur Wildlife Refuge, where they seized and occupied the refuge headquarters.

“They don’t want to get in the middle of it”, his wife said. He said they’re willing to kill and be killed if necessary. “Neither Ammon Bundy nor anyone within his group/organization speak for the Hammond Family”, the Hammonds’ lawyer W. Alan Schroeder wrote to Sheriff David Ward.

“I think they said it best back in World War II – I think there’s a gun behind every blade of grass”, said militia member Jason Patrick.

Bundy said he hasn’t heard from any law enforcement “since we made the stand”.

The activity has upset everyday life in the town of Burns, the closest city to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge where the occupation is taking place.

The U.S. Fisheries and Wildlife Service posted a message to Twitter about the situation Sunday, saying that they were working to resolve the situation peacefully. “Many of the species migrating through or breeding here are highlighted as priority species in national bird conservation plans”.

Prosecutors said the father and son set the fire, which burned about 130 acres in 2001 on leased federal land, to hide poaching, according to CNN. They were convicted of arson three years ago, and the father served three months in prison, while the son served 11 months. But in October, a federal judge in OR ruled their terms were too short under US law and ordered them back to prison for about four years each.

The decision caused a local uproar, but it really touched a nerve with far-right groups like the one headed by the Bundys that routinely challenge federal authority.

“We’re out here because the people have been abused long enough”, Ammon Bundy said in a separate video posted to Facebook Saturday.

He called the prosecution of the Hammonds “a symptom of a very huge, egregious problem” that he described as a battle over land and resources between the federal government and “the American people”.

He said on the surface, it doesn’t look like much has changed in Burns, a high desert town of about 2,700 people.

Cliven Bundy’s son Ammon claims the federally owned wildlife refuge in rural, eastern OR belongs to the people, and that they are “making a hard stand against… overreach”. “This facility actually has been a tool for the federal government to do all those things they have done to the Hammonds”, he said.

Payne, the veteran who is at the site, said the group was not violent. “I can’t judge what’s going on out there because I don’t know what it is”, she said.