Environmentalists Decry Oregon Wildlife Refuge Takeover
An armed militia has taken over a federal building in southeastern Oregon as part of a long-running campaign of violence, intimidation and right-wing paranoia that has festered for decades in the West, most recently with the standoff with Cliven Bundy in Nevada in 2014. Among the demands at the latest standoff is to shut down Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, which provides crucial protections for wildlife, especially birds that migrate through the area.

“This is the latest in a long string of armed, right-wing thugs attempting to seize America’s public lands and enact their paranoid, anti-government dream bought by guns and intimidation,” said Kierán Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity. “We’ve seen it with pipebombs planted on wilderness trails and sent to the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. We saw in 2014 with Cliven Bundy and his racist and violent rhetoric in Nevada and now we’re seeing it with his sons in Oregon.”
Cliven Bundy stopped paying the federal government for the privilege of grazing his cows on public lands in Nevada and owes about $1 million to taxpayers. Bundy, who was quoted in an interview with The New York Times wondering whether black people were better off as slaves, was the center of an armed standoff with the Bureau of Land Management in April 2014 that ended with the BLM backing away and Bundy’s continued trespass on federal land. Among the anti-federal government militia who were defending Bundy at his ranch was Jared Miller, who just three months after the standoff at the ranch went on a shooting spree with his wife that included the ambush-murder of two Las Vegas police officers as they ate at a restaurant. They draped the officers with a Gadsden flag — a symbol of liberty used by both the antigovernment “Patriot” movement and members of the Tea Party movement.
The latest standoff near Burns, Ore., followed a judge’s call for additional prison time for a father and son — 73-year-old Dwight Hammond and 46-year-old Steven Hammond — whom prosecutors say lit a fire on federal land in 2001 to cover up the illegal slaughter of a deer herd. Both were convicted of arson and are scheduled to report to federal prison on Monday.
The wildlife refuge’s headquarters was seized by Bundy’s sons and others on Saturday. The men are armed and say they are willing to occupy the building for years if needed. According to The Oregonian, Ryan Bundy said they are willing to kill and be killed if necessary. Also among the armed occupiers of the wildlife fefuge building is Jon Ritzheimer, an infamous anti-Muslim activist who has repeatedly threatened violence.
“Despite their flags and patriotic overtures, don’t mistake this standoff for anything than what it is: An attempt to use guns to seize control over what taxpayers own and bully the government into acquiescing to their demands,” Suckling said. “But there’s a larger context here. What’s happening in Oregon is a logical outgrowth of right-wing rhetoric that demonizes even the concept of federal land — places like national parks and forests — and villianizes those who believe that publicly owned land should be more than just a source of profit for ranchers and corporations.”
There’s been a growing movement among politicians in the West to seize control of federal lands and hand them over to state and local government, where they’re more likely to be logged, mined and drilled for profit.
“These are special places that deserve protection for values that we all hold dear: clean air, water and refuge for wildlife,” Suckling said. “Americans, collectively, have decided that these public lands need and deserve protection. That shouldn’t be undone at the behest of men with guns and a dangerous view of how a government should be run.”
Reprinted from the Center for Biological Diversity.
January 6, 2016 @ 5:16 pm
This armed takeover is, indeed, atrocious and should be dealt with swiftly and decisively by the federal government. At stake here is the future of nature preservation and restoration upon which the future of life on Earth depends.
January 6, 2016 @ 7:41 pm
I don’t see guns on all these militia guys your screaming about, 1st if you’d do your home work you would realize Bill Clinton took more land from citizens in his presidency than any president ever has. These militia guys are trying to take back the land so they can feed there families cause the government has done several points you may like: 1. by taking lands they limited the tax base for communities to pay for police fire and ems, 2. took away tax dollars for schools.3 took away tax dollars for road work and infrastructure repair. 4. the government by taking the land has told you where you can live and not where you can live by limiting access to land to build homes. 5 took away jobs that create economic development. 6. the government has told you the idiot you have to live in this box area limiting you to farming, logging, eating home vegetables, 7. this land these people have decided to go on is “OUR LAND NOT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT LAND, WE OWN IT, THEY WORK FOR US…. FIRE THESE BASTARDS FOR RUINING OUR LANDS. But if you were a rancher you’d know that the earth has been here millions of years and always have taken care of herself with out man person or idiot having to fight for her. Cows live 8-10 years, horses 16-30 years, people 1-115 years cause there ruthless, destroy every thing they touch….. these boys are trying to protect the eagles, wolves, animals by citizens doing the right thing…. the federal government employees are people who could never make it the private sector or hold a real job doing real work. The moon will rise, the sun will set the wind will blow and no man can do anything to stop it…. dam you people get a life, buy some land you own and live off it….. then run your mouth about something you know
January 6, 2016 @ 11:39 pm
What is the stated reason for them wanting to shut down the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge?
Seems like the majority of this article (in terms of percentage of the sentences written) is not about the environment or environmental concerns or damage they are doing to the environment, but about accusing these people of other bad things (rightly or wrongly), or accusing them of a certain view-point or labeling them as bad people.
I would like to know more about what is happening there, why, how this affects the refuge and what it means in terms of the environment, etc.
January 7, 2016 @ 10:48 pm
Huh? I am confused by the headline to this article, “Right-wing takeover of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge could be bad news for migrating birds and other wildlife…” Nowhere in the article does it mention how it may be harmful or bad news for the birds…. The men don’t care about the animals, they are not there to kill them, they are occupying the building. The birds are wild animals. They don’t go to the reserve to receive a hot meal and a blanket for the night. Be a writer. Stop misleading the public into thinking every snow storm is the storm of the century, a southern town without power for an hour is a life or death situation, or a guy who robs a convenience store and takes everyone hostage is a victim of police brutality.
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