The Occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Near KBNO, Burns, Oregon

[SkyBoat]

@KL-666-- You're right, out here in the Northwest, we have had so-called "eco-terrorists" burning down lumber company buildings, but also Forest Service offices, and right in Eugene where I live, about 10 years ago, a bunch of brand new big SUV trucks fire-bombed parked on the dealer's lot.

But after that, things around here have settled down. I can't remember a major event for at least a decade. That doesn't mean there haven't been some events in other parts of the country I am just not aware of. However, new things are developing…

The most recent type of protest we have been dealing with here in Oregon is a group of ranchers, most, but not all, of them Mormons (or members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints or LDS, as they prefer to be called) who occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters and its environs out in the middle of the central Oregon desert. It is about 30 miles/48km/26nm out of Burns, Oregon a small town of about 2700 people. There are only just over 7000 people living in Harney county, but well over 100,000 head of cattle running over the rangeland. Harney county is 10,226 square miles or 26,490 square kilometers. That makes it larger than the states of Vermont, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Connecticut. Delaware, and Rhode Island, in that order. Comparing it to Europe, it is larger than the The Republic of Macedonia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Cyprus, Luxembourg, plus the six countries less than 1000 square km in that order.

Continuing My Narrative:

My Connection to the Story:

I know this area very well because it is just off the main highway between Eugene, Oregon where I live and Boise, Idaho, where I was raised and my parents lived until their deaths. So I have driven past the entrance to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge literally dozens of times and Burns was a town we often stopped at for a meal and fuel, and sometimes in bad weather in the winter, to overnight because about 40 miles east of Burns are two 5000 foot passes that are very treacherous in stormy weather during the day and even more dangerous during the night.

Sources:

My sources came from watching dozens of hours of online and YouTube media posted by various groups who call themselves “alternative media” as well as scouring news reports from main stream media to see how the two compare. One particularly important voice came from an alternative talk-show host, Pete Santilli, who day-after-day was live-streaming the events right there at the Refuge and in Burns and elsewhere. What I relate below I will admit was a whole new education for me.

Disclosure:

Let me disclose up front, I am the grandson of a Mormon rancher (although I am not a Mormon), so I have a unique history and distinct frame of reference most people who have been following this story do not have. I will talk more about this later.

Narrative Account:

On 2 January 2016, approximately 15 people Led by two brothers, Ammon and Ryan Bundy and a close associate, LaVoy Finicum, took it over with guns and declared they would not leave until the Federal government turned it over to the "We the People," namely, them and their rancher cohort. Gradually over the next few days, their numbers swelled to perhaps 35, but they never would release how many people were in the compound. In some cases the wives and children of the men joined them. On top of that, a group of perhaps 25 self-styled “militia” men called the Idaho Three-Percenters showed up openly carrying long rifle assault weapons and side arms stating they were setting up a perimeter between the occupiers and the FBI to ensure the FBI did not take any action against the occupiers. There was never an armed confrontation between the FBI and the Idaho 3%'s.

Who are these people who call themselves, “We the People”? The battle over who controls the vast tracts of the U.S. range and forest lands and who gets to use them and what they have to pay to use them has been going on for well over a century. In the past, wars literally have been fought over who would control the land. And that was after they had been taken from the Native Americans.
The ranchers involved here are descendants of these earlier fighters, but with a twist.

There is a strata within the American population who believe that the U.S. Constitution strictly prohibits the Federal Government from owning any land outside of some very narrowly defined particulars. “We the People” comes from the opening words of the preamble of the U.S. Constitution. This strata believes they have a special claim to it, which I will explain more below. They call themselves “Constitutionalists” or “Strict Constitutionalists.” Their interpretation of the Constitution is that it is not open to interpretation. They use this interpretation to claim that the Federal Government is specifically prohibited from owning any open range lands or forests in the country, and that they, the ranchers, as “We the People” therefore, have the right to move their cattle herds anywhere regardless of the damage the herds may do to the land either by their sheer numbers (we are talking about herds that can number from a few hundred into the tens of thousands of heads of cattle) or by over-grazing an area. And, most claim they don't have to pay for grazing their cattle on the land. We'll talk about that more later.

It has to be pointed out here that the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge was established by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1908, not to constrict the range for ranching but to preserve the what is called the Pacific Flyway, a natural and ancient landing and resting area for migrating birds traveling from the Arctic to the Equatorial regions and back again. It is estimated that 22 million birds travel this route and the Refuge is essential to their survival of the trip. If the Refuge is degraded or destroyed by grazing or human development projects, the arctic ecosystem will collapse, and the economies that depend on it along with it. So, too, will the migratory economies and ecologies to the south. So what is at stake here is not just a patch of Oregon desert; it is a vital part of the ecological health of the entire Pacific Coast from the Arctic Ocean to the Equator. The Refuge, in that critical respect, does not belong exclusively to the United States, but to the interdependent nations of the West Coast Seaboard.

The primary occupation of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge that began on 2 January 2016, ended on 26 January when the core leaders were arrested while traveling by car from the Refuge to a meeting in another town about two hours away. They were stopped by a police roadblock. One of the leaders, LaVoy Finicum, after attempting to elude the roadblock was shot and killed by an Oregon State Police Officer. Ryan Bundy, traveling in another vehicle was wounded, but not seriously. From that point, and numbers vary, approximately 20-25 people at the Refuge decided to leave. The FBI allowed them to as long as they did not take any personal belongings or guns with them. However, twelve in total have been arrested as of this writing. Four people (3 men, 1 woman) remain at the Refuge, refusing to surrender, even though they are surrounded by the FBI and have been, for all intents and purposes cut off from the outside world. If you go to Skyvector.com, and enter KBNO, for Burns Municipal Airport, you will see a red circle No-Fly Zone. That is where the four hold-out occupiers at the Refuge are located.

But the most unexpected development happend Wednesday evening, 10 February, was that Cliven Bundy the father of two the leaders (Ammon and Ryan), was arrested as he arrived at Portland International Airport (KPDX). He was intending to travel to Burns to support the four holdout individuals. The elder Mr. Bundy is notorious for an armed standoff in 2014 he had with the FBI and local authorities over his refusal to pay grazing fees for over twenty years. The FBI, rather than provoking a fire-fight with Bundy and a large group of heavily armed “militia” (reportedly around a thousand heavily armed men) who came to his ranch to help defend him, backed off. Bundy declared victory over the Government and FBI and the Feds were criticized in the American press for not enforcing the law.

11 February.

Overnight there were significant developments in this situation. The four people holding out in the Refuge have agreed to surrender on the condition that Franklin Graham, the son of evangelist Billy Graham and the evangelist heir to his ministry is present. And also, a second person, Nevada state legislator Michele Fiore is traveling to the refuge. She has been in support of the occupiers and highly critical of the FBI. Thursday, the four holdout individuals surrendered to the FBI once Mrs Fiore and Rev. Graham were at the Refuge. The four were immediately arrested and taken into custody without incident. So ends a strange and tragic chapter in the American West. I will comment more below, but it is my opinion, this will not be the only incident of this kind. There are too many very angry people at the United States Government who, despite the “defeat” of the Bundy group's occupation of the Refuge, consider this not the last shot but the first in trying to rein in what they believe as the government's unconstitutional and illegal over-reach of the millions of square miles west of the Mississippi River.

COMMENTARY

In my next installment of this posting, I will be providing some commentary on the events and providing my particular perspective, as well as replying to comments.

[KL-666]

Hello Skyboat,

I think i just cross-posted you with a new topic. Well let's just leave that other topic and continue here.

Amazing how much is going on up in the north-west. Your detailed report is very interesting. What i get from it is that some reasonably right wing people are active now. (To me people that oppose central government are right wing)

From the documentary i saw i thought left wing people were active. But my biggest question is: Is it true that in the north-west people are more left wing than general in America?

From your story it looks there are both left and right winged people in the north-west, and both quite active. So now i get the impression that the north-west is more polarized than general Amirica.

Kind regards, Vincent.