Ammon Bundy, center, one of the sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, arrives for a news conference at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016, near Burns, Ore.
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Finicum, holding a rifle and a backpack, told reporters he would stay at the entrance to the refuge overnight so authorities could find him.
Also on Thursday, Harney County Sherrif David Ward met with protest leader Ammon Bundy.
Bundy’s group – calling itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom – comes from as far away as Arizona and MI.
The man leading a group of armed militia occupying a national wildlife refuge in OR says they’ll leave when a plan is in place to turn over management of federal lands to locals.
With the takeover entering its fourth day Wednesday, authorities had not removed the armed group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon’s high desert country.
“I’m uneasy about Bundy and his outside help because I don’t know them and how they will act”, said Mitch Singer, a rancher who has spent most of his life in Harney County.
@Ammon_Bundy via Twitter Ammon Bundy compares his group to Rosa Parks in a tweet on January 6, 2016. She says the group is “desecrating one of our sacred sites”.
All seemed calm at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge south of Burns, Oregon, where a member of the group looked over the area from a watchtower.
In a YouTube video, the younger Mr Bundy said God was not happy with what happened to OR rancher family Steven and Dwight Hammond, who turned themselves in on Monday to carry out longer prison sentences after setting fire to federal land in 2001 and 2006.
The situation in OR is a reflection of a decades-old dispute over land rights in the USA, where the federal government controls just over half the territory in 13 states in the west.
“That being said, I appreciate much of their message and admire their sense of doing the right thing”. Adherents believe the US Constitution is a divinely-inspired document, blurring the lines between state and church, and the Bundys have seized on this viewpoint to justify their own actions. “We manage it the best we can for its owners, the people, and whether it’s for recreating, for grazing, for energy and mineral development”.
As with other tribes, the Burns Paiutes’ link to the land is marked by a history of conflict with white settlers and the USA government.
Bundy initially came to Burns to rally support for two local ranchers who were sentenced to prison on arson charges. A community meeting was scheduled for later Wednesday.
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The Hammonds were convicted of arson three years ago and served no more than a year. Supporters wanted more land for cattle grazing, mining and timber harvesting.
