Joe Raedle/Getty Images The stolen vehicles had signs for the Harney County Resource Center, the name that the occupiers have given to Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. This little group thinks federal land should be exclusively for their use simply because they live next to it. Truth is, the Bundy family has been illegally grazing on federal land for years by not paying minimal grazing fees – fees that are far less than they had pay on private land.
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She sent a letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service urging federal prosecution, if warranted, on Friday.
Kenneth Medenbach, 62, was the first of the group to be arrested after he attempted to purchase supplies from a Safeway grocery store in a vehicle bearing federal government license plates, officials said.
One of the leaders of the armed group, Ryan Bundy, has said the group isn’t interested in the artifacts but wants the refuge land opened to ranchers and loggers.
The armed group took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge to protest federal land use policies.
Police recovered two vehicles belonging to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that had been reported stolen from the refuge, located roughly 30 miles south of Burns. The armed men began occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on January 2.
The armed activists occupying a national wildlife refuge in southeastern OR clashed with environmentalists Saturday as a standoff stretched into a 15th day. “He was ordered held in custody because of evidence that Medenbach poses a risk to the safety of other persons or the community because [he] acknowledges intimidation practices, references “Ruby Ridge” and ‘Waco, Texas, ‘ and clearly would not follow conditions of release restraining his presence at the scene of the alleged unlawful activity”, according to a federal appellate court ruling upholding his conviction.
Concrete barriers and fences block off streets around the Harney County Courthouse in the small eastern OR town of Burns where law enforcement officers called in from around the state have set up a command center in the back and guard the vehicle entrance.
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The group has said they won’t leave until the ranchers jailed for arson are freed and the refuge is turned over to local control. He criticized local officials for “making sure we have no access to facilities to talk to the residents”.
