Armed group occupying refuge clash with environmentalists

Exhausted of the armed militia occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, two OR brothers have launched a fundraiser to raise money for foes of the occupiers, including a gun control group and a Native American tribe whose members claim the refuge as their ancestral land.

Medenbach’s arrest came the same day as Burns Paiute Tribal Chair Charlotte Rodrique pleaded to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services for federal action against the protesters to defend the tribe’s cultural resources.

But police arrested Kenneth Medenbach, a 62-year-old resident of Crescent, Oregon, after he drove a vehicle owned by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to a local supermarket on Friday, the Harney County Sheriff’s office said in a statement. Medenbach is being held at Deschutes County jail with a $10,000 bond on a charge of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.

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.

“We also recognize that the Native Americans had the claim to the land, but they lost that claim”.

Bundy and his followers say they want to give the land back to the people.

The occupiers declared their move a show of support for two local ranchers, Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son Steven, who were returned to prison earlier this month for setting fires that spread to federal land.

“We’re here to speak up for public land, which belongs to the public”, Suckling continued over the roar, the Oregonian said.

Meanwhile, one of the protesters at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge has been arrested by Oregon State Police for his involvement in a stolen vehicle from the property.

Information for this article was contributed by Michelle Price of The Associated Press.

Armed militia members scaled ladders Friday to remove cameras, which they referred to as a symbol of “mass surveillance”, militia spokesman LaVoy Finicum said during a news briefing, the New York Daily News reports.

The wildlife refuge buildings hold thousands of artifacts that were being researched, along with maps detailing where more relics can be found, according to the Canada Journal. He criticized local officials for “making sure we have no access to facilities to talk to the residents”.

This is the second armed standoff with the federal government involving the Bundy family.

Despite the offer to return artifacts if the Paiute tribe reaches out to occupiers, the group has a very different view of the refuge’s “owners” and history.

“I don’t agree with anything they’re doing right now”, said Ben McCanna about the occupiers at the refuge, about 4 miles from his home.