Right-Wing Militia Threatens Showdown With U.S. Agents at Oregon Wildlife Refuge

Tensions over the treatment of two cattle ranchers in Oregon escalated into an armed standoff over the weekend when members of a rightwing militia occupied a wildlife refuge and threatened a confrontation with federal authorities.

Ammon Bundy, the son of the Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who was at the heart of a notorious showdown over cattle grazing rights last year, was among at least a dozen heavily armed men who seized the headquarters of the Malheur wildlife refuge on Saturday afternoon and said they would stay indefinitely.

They occupied the building after an earlier peaceful protest over the treatment of two ranchers, Dwight Hammond and his son Steve, who are facing custodial sentences related to arson charges. Both are due to report to prison on Monday.

The occupation appears to have begun at about 2pm. Two hours later, the Guardian approached the refuge, which lies about 60 miles south of the town of Burns and is only accessible via a lakeside road slick with ice and banked with snow. There were no law enforcement agents visible in the area around the refuge. A man with a goatee beard and wraparound sunglasses stood guard, armed with an AR-15-style rifle, and refused entry to the federally owned facility. 

He declined to give his name or affiliation, citing “operational security”. He did confirm, however, that the men, several of whom were openly carrying assault weapons, would be camping on the site. “This public land belongs to ‘we the people’,” he said. “We’ll be here enjoying the snow and the scenery.” 

The Guardian was allowed to take a few photographs, and then it was strongly advised to leave the scene. Within hours, police had descended on the remote corner of Harney county, blocking roads and urging members of the public to stay away.

“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,” the sheriff, Dave Ward, said in a statement. “A collective effort from multiple agencies is currently working on a solution.”

One of the occupiers, Ryan Payne, said by telephone that they did not intend to resort to violence, but that when local and federal authorities arrived “whatever else is going to happen will happen.” He said the men had faith in God and intended to uphold the constitution.

Payne was cagey about the exact number of men involved in the occupation. Some sources put the number as high as 150, but when the Guardian visited earlier during the day, fewer than a dozen cars were parked around the front entrance. 

Ammon Bundy, whose father became a folk hero among rightwing constitutionalists after his previous confrontation with federal authorities in Nevada, appeared to be a key figure. “We’re out here because the people have been abused long enough,” he said in a video interview posted on his Facebook page Saturday night. 

Asked how he would respond to law enforcement, Bundy played down the prospect of a confrontation, saying he and the other men posed “no threat to anybody”. “This facility is owned by the people, and so if they come to bring physical harm to us, then they will be doing it only because of a facility, or a building. And I don’t believe that warrants killing people.”

Cliven Bundy told Oregon Public Broadcasting on Saturday night that he had nothing to do with the takeover of the building, but his son had felt obliged to intervene on behalf of the Hammonds.

“That’s not exactly what I thought should happen, but I didn’t know what to do,” he said. “You know, if the Hammonds wouldn’t stand, if the sheriff didn’t stand, then, you know, the people had to do something. And I guess this is what they did decide to do. I wasn’t in on that.”

Ammon Bundy and the other armed men made their move at the end of a day of public protest over the impending imprisonment of the Hammonds, which attracted rightwing and constitutionalist groups from around the country to Burns, a small town in south-east Oregon.

Many local people also turned out to support the Hammond father and son, respectively 73 and 46, popular figures in Harney county. The pair lit several fires from the late 1990s onwards to promote the growth of grass for their cattle, but in 1999, 2001 and 2006, the fires spread on to neighbouring public land in the Malheur wildlife refuge.

The two were convicted of arson three years ago and served time – Dwight Hammond three months, and his son a year. A judgeruled subsequently that their terms had been too short under federal law and ordered them back to prison for about four years each. 

Their lawyers have indicated they plan to abide by a court ruling that they return to prison on Monday.

The rally in support of the pair saw about 300 people gather in icy conditions in the car park of a supermarket at midday on Saturday. Locals and representatives of the Idaho Three Percenters militia, who have been in Burns organising around the issue for more than a month, talked about the Hammonds’ re-imprisonment as a civil rights issue.

They then marched to the sherriff’s office, where they threw coins at the door. There was no response from the officers inside. 

From there, the demonstrators made their way to Dwight Hammond’s modest home, where the rancher told the crowd: “Remember, this is not about me. This is about our country.” 

After throwing more coins at the county courthouse a couple of blocks away, the protesters returned to the car park and dispersed.

Some attended a community meeting at the local fairground, but it was also around this time that Ammon Bundy and his armed associates appear to have driven the 60 miles to the wildlife refuge, which surrounds the Hammond ranch. 

Division among the protesters was clear. 

Locals were mainly motivated by sympathy for the Hammonds, but the outsiders were agitating to link their treatment to much larger issues around land management, criminal justice and the constitution. 

There was anger at the community meeting that those occupying federal land would delegitimise the grievances around the Hammond case, and attract the attention of federal agencies to a movement which until then had been been peaceful. 

The militia occupying the refuge said they were in for the long haul. “We’re planning on staying here for years, absolutely,” Ammon Bundy said. “This is not a decision we’ve made at the last minute.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.