The manager of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge told his employees on Jan. 2 not to report to work after he saw a caravan of cars headed to the refuge, heard Ammon Bundy issue a “call of arms” in Burns and recognized men who had been involved in the Bunkerville standoff in Nevada in his backyard.
Chad Karges, who has worked at the Harney County refuge for 17 years and managed it for a little more than a year, testified in federal court Thursday as a prosecutor pulled up photo after photo of heavily armed strangers blocking the refuge gate, milling outside the refuge headquarters, sitting in the fire tower and driving government vehicles.
Karges is the government’s fourth witness in the federal conspiracy trial against Ammon Bundy and six co-defendants. They’ve pleaded not guilty to conspiring to impede federal employees from carrying out their work at the federal wildlife sanctuary.
Karges said he made the decision to to keep employees away after New Year’s Day because of the “continued intimidation and threats towards federal employees” and “type of arms that they had and the type of stand they were taking.”
Karges testified that occupiers used more than 1,000 gallons of fuel during the 41-day armed takeover. They also accessed a refuge money bag, usually locked in a file cabinet, an employee’s ID card, vehicle credit cards and refuge receipts, usually locked in a safe, he said. The refuge’s vehicles were all reported stolen the first week of the takeover.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Gabriel showed jurors photos of three refuge trucks, including a front-loader, blocking one road on the refuge, as well as close-up images of defendant Kenneth Medenbach placing Harney County Resource Center decals on U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service trucks, and defendant Ryan Bundy, Medenbach and another man replacing the refuge’s welcome sign at the entrance with a new large sign that read, “Harney County Resource Center.”
“Not only had they occupied the headquarters, are heavily armed, but using all aspects of our equipment fleet,” Karges told jurors.
Karges said 14 of the refuge’s 16 employees report to work at the federal wildlife sanctuary on a typical day.
Karges said he sent employees home early on Dec. 31, 2015, “because of the rising tensions in the community.” The refuge remained closed on the holiday.
His employees would have returned to work on Jan. 4, but for the occupation, he testified.
“I told them not to return to work until they received further instructions from me,” said Karges, who lives between Burns and the refuge. “It was not a safe place to send employees to work.”
