But while many experts call the government’s caution wise, there’s evidence that the passage of time has only strengthened sympathy for the underlying complaints, which include an end to “economic warfare” against Westerners and transfer of federally managed backcountry lands to states.
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“We also recognize that the Native Americans had the claim to the land, but they lost that claim”, Ryan Bundy told the AP.
“We wouldn’t sacrifice our lives, we wouldn’t sacrifice being away from our children and families, being away from our businesses, if we did not feel that we are going to make a difference here”.
“The government realizes this is a situation they can only lose if they take action”.
Zach Klonoski said he and his brother, both Eugene natives, followed the 2014 standoff at Cliven Bundy’s Nevada ranch.
“Do you remember what I said to you about that sign?” Examples abound – from the IRS targeting 200 conservative groups, to the seizure of cars and bank accounts of innocent business owners, to heavily armed Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) agents bursting into Gibson Guitar facilities over phony exotic wood violations, to EPA destroying tens of thousands of coal industry jobs to “prevent climate chaos”.
“It’s a huge problem in Oregon, especially in the southeast portion of the state”, Oregon State archaeologist Dennis Griffin told reporter Rebecca Boone.
“This is a really important Native American cultural site to the Paiute and they are cutting roads, cutting fences”, Martz said.
“They could be on eBay right now – we don’t know”.
A major complaint in OR is that federal timber harvests have fallen in the state by 90 percent since 1988, two years before the spotted owl was first put on the threatened species list, in turn putting additional pressure on private timber resources to supply a growing demand for house-building materials.
She sent a letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service urging federal prosecution, if warranted, on Friday.
“Their history is being hijacked by these people”, said Donald Grayson, an anthropologist and archeology expert at the University of Washington.
“Before white man came, so to speak, there was nothing to keep cattle from tromping on those things”, Bundy said.
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“They are disrupting our lives, and we are ready for them to go home and get our lives back to normal”, he said, adding that once the militia is gone, “those divisions will be healed and there may be some healthy positive discussions about some of our disagreements”. More than 4,000 tribal artifacts are housed and cared for on the property, including spears and stone tools, some dating almost 10,000 years.
