Head of NM Wildlife Federation goes to OR to protest militia’s occupation

A “Don’t Tread on Me” flag at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge…

Meanwhile environmental groups have announced they’ll hold rallies in OR and Washington to support national public lands and federal workers who oversee them.

A spokeswoman for the armed protesters said a Friday meeting involving the group and a local citizen’s group will be held at the fairgrounds.

“And I just want them to go home so I can feel safe and I can feel like it is home again”, 15-year-old Ashlie Presley said with tears in her eyes, referring to the armed men, according to The Associated Press.

Members of an armed anti-government militia, monitor the entrance to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Headquarters near Burns, Oregon January 5, 2016.

“They’re terrorists”, he said.

“We were cautioned about proceeding out to the refuge for various reasons but were not prohibited from going”. They said it was part of the group’s bigger plan to return federal land to residents of Harney County.

Occupiers, journalists and local law enforcement have made frequent trips to establishments in the town, without incident, reports OPB.

“We have a longstanding practice of allowing community groups to use county facilities”, said Harney County commissioner Steven Grasty. “One county official was visibly hostile toward our presence and used very inflammatory language about our participation”, said the statement released by Idaho legislators Judy Boyle, Heather Scott, and Sage Dixon.

Bundy has previously said the group would not leave until a plan was in place to turn over federal lands to local authorities.

A backhoe was brought in to help remove the barbed-wire fence and posts that mark the border between a section of the refuge and private land. Dwight and Steve Hammond, the two ranchers who were convicted of arson for their role in setting fire to grazing lands and who were originally cited as the catalyst for the protest, have also distanced themselves from the standoff.

The committee formed days before Bundy and his followers began their occupation of the wildlife refuge at a meeting organized by the militants, though some members have at times resisted Bundy’s tactics.