A group of self-styled "militiamen" made headlines over the weekend when they took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters building in eastern Oregon's Harney Basin. They are evidently led by Ammon Bundy, son of Cliven Bundy, the Nevada rancher known for his 2014 standoff with the federal government (over unpaid grazing fees to the Bureau of Land Management). They say they are acting on behalf of Dwight and Steven Hammond, father and son of a local ranching family, who were sentenced to five years in prison for setting a fire on BLM land after the Ninth Circuit upheld the mandatory minimum for arson on federal lands. By various accounts, the fire was ostensibly set to clear invasive plants, or as a "backfire" (or "controlled burn") to keep a brush-fire from spreading to their property. But the Justice Department press release on the sentencing portrays a reckless act intentionally designed as a provocation to the feds. In any case, the Hammonds don't seem too enthusiastic about the action taken on their behalf. The right-wing militant Idaho 3 Percent was instrumental in the take-over, according to an early account on Central Oregon's KTVZ.
A sympathetic right-wing website, The Last Refuge, provides an historical outline of the conflict over the lands in question, beginning: "The Harney Basin (were [sic] the Hammond ranch is established) was settled in the 1870’s. The valley was settled by multiple ranchers and was known to have run over 300,000 head of cattle… In 1908 President Theodor [sic] Roosevelt, in a political scheme, create [sic] an 'Indian reservation' around the Malheur, Mud & Harney Lakes and declared it 'as a preserve and breeding ground for native birds'. Later this 'Indian reservation' (without Indians) became the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge." In other words, the land was not "settled" before white ranchers arrived, and the "Indian reservation" (in scare quotes, of course) was a scam to establish federal control of the area. The names of the Harney Basin's indigenous peoples are not even mentioned.
Indian Country Today Media Network, as you might guess, portrays it rather differently. The Malheur Indian Reservation was actually established in 1872 by President Ulysses S. Grant for the Northern Paiute. White settler encroachment on the reservation resulted in the Bannock War of 1878, which ended with the surrender of the Paiutes and Bannocks, and their "removal" to the Yakama Reservation in Washington Territory. The Burns Paiute Reservation, a tiny patch of land in the north of the basin, is a surviving fragment of the original reservation. The rest of it seems to have wound up in the hands of private ranchers, the BLM and the Wildlife Refuge—which is what Teddy Roosevelt actually established.
But the Bundys and their followers want the feds out entirely, and assert that the only lawful authority in the area is Harney County Sheriff David Ward, who they have petitioned to take the Hammonds into "protective custody" from the US marshals. In the 2014 standoff, Cliven Bundy claimed that federal agents had no authority in Nevada. He now claims the same of Oregon, stating: "United States Justice Department has NO jurisdiction or authority within the State of Oregon."
Yet media images show the "militiamen" draping American flags all over the occupied headquarters. "Patriotism" wedded to wacky pseudo-constitutional theories about the federal government having no authority or being illegitimate is a perennial irony of the politics of secessionism in the United States. Making all too clear that behind the idealistic rhetoric is a fundamentally undemocratic agenda to privatize public lands and their natural resources.
Jury acquits all seven defendants in wildlife refuge occupation
A jury in Portland, Ore., on Oct. 27 acquitted all seven defendants involved in the 41-day armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, in a trial that lasted nearly six weeks. The defendants were acquitted of the main charge of conspiring to impede federal employees from performing their duties, while no verdict was reached in connection with Ryan Bundy's charge of theft of government property. The jury returned its verdict after less than six hours of deliberations. Federal prosecutors argued that members of the Bundy family conspired to keep federal workers from performing their jobs at the wildlife refuge site through "threats and intimidation," while defense attorneys responded that that the Bundys were merely protesting the federal government's control of public land in the west, exercising of their First and Second Amendment rights.
Defendant Ammon Bundy's attorney, Marcus Mumford, demanded that his client be released immediately following the verdict. US District Judge Anna Brown refused to release Ammon and several others, stating that they would remain in federal custody because of similar pending charges in Nevada. An agitated Mumford had to be restrained by US Marshals after he started yelling at the judge and was warned by Brown not to yell at her "ever again."
Many expressed disappointment and concern over the jury verdict including Oregon Gov. Kate Brown who said that "The occupation of the Malheur Reserve did not reflect the Oregon way of respectfully working together to resolve differences," and Joan Anzelmo, a retired federal land manager, who stated that this is a "very dangerous verdict… This was a national wildlife refuge that was taken over essentially in an act of domestic terrorism." (Jurist, Oct. 29)
Trump pardons Oregon ranchers whose arrest lead to standoff
President Donald Trump granted two full presidential pardons July 10 to Dwight Lincoln Hammond, Jr., and his son, Steven Hammond, cattle ranchers in Oregon who were serving five-year sentences for arson on federal land. It was this sentencing that set off a 41-day armed occupation of Oregon’s Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in 2016.
While the two were acquitted on most charges regarding the incident, Dwight Lincoln Hammond, Jr. had served three years of a five-year sentence. Steven Hammond was on his fourth year.
"The Hammonds are devoted family men, respected contributors to their local community, and have widespread support from their neighbors, local law enforcement, and farmers and ranchers across the West. Justice is overdue for Dwight and Steven Hammond, both of whom are entirely deserving of these Grants of Executive Clemency," said a White House statement. (Jurist)