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Monday, March 18, 2024
March 18, 2024

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In Our View: Land Finally Returned

Federal agents bring peaceful resolution to Malheur occupation

The Columbian
Published:

Despite their overblown rhetoric to the contrary, armed protestors at a national wildlife refuge in remote Southeastern Oregon were not simply occupying federal land. They were occupying land that belongs to you and your neighbors and your children. They were wrong on their premise and illegal in their actions, but they did succeed in bringing attention to the issue of public lands.

This 41-day absurdist exercise came to a peaceful end Thursday, with the final four occupiers at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge surrendering to authorities with nary a shot fired. The outcome was fortunate, if slow in coming. FBI agents, who quickly took over the law-enforcement side of the issue following the Jan. 2 seizure of the land, demonstrated restraint throughout the tense standoff.

One occupier — LaVoy Finicum — was shot and killed Jan. 26 when FBI agents attempted to apprehend him; video shows that Finicum was reaching inside his jacket, where a gun was found. Aside from that, the six-week ordeal was as peaceful as could be hoped. And while federal agents deserve credit for not escalating the tension, they also brought about questions of how best to handle such an occupation. Does the drawn-out nature of the event embolden future occupations? Does the lack of an aggressive response enable like-minded people who wrongly see themselves as “patriots?”

Only time will answer those questions. The Malheur occupation calls to mind an 81-day standoff perpetrated by the Montana Freemen in 1996, which also ended peacefully. Such an outcome is preferable to violent results at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, in 1992; and Waco, Texas, in 1993. As these events demonstrate, there always will be people who can rally followers against what they view as government oppression. Such dissidence reflects the power of being an American and of embracing the spirit of this nation’s founding. But from the start of the latest occupation, the Malheur gang has been wrong on the law and has harmed their cause in the court of public opinion.

Led by two sons of Cliven Bundy, a Nevada rancher who in 2014 rallied armed support for the subsidized grazing of his cattle on federal land, the Malheur occupation brought to light the importance of public lands, which belong to all of us. A recent poll from Colorado College reinforced the public’s desire to maintain federal lands, and faculty member Eric Perramond said: “Charges of government overreach from the ideological fringes are making headlines, but in reality most Westerners in this poll favor greater protection and sensible use of the open lands and national treasures that define the region.”

That was emphasized two years ago in the Cliven Bundy conflict. For years, his livestock have grazed on land owned by the people, while he has refused to pay nominal fees for that right. On Thursday, when he arrived in Portland on his way to visit the Malheur occupiers, Bundy was arrested. His family has refused to make payments toward $1.1 million in grazing fees and penalties.

Throughout it all, the Bundy family has been stealing from the people of the United States, so have the occupiers at Malheur. And while they have their supporters, the reaction from those supporters would be curious if the wildlife refuge were occupied by Muslim-Americans or Native Americans complaining about unfair treatment from the government.

So, while the Malheur conflict garnered national attention, the outcome was appropriate: Federal authorities returned the land to the people.

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