Audubon Society: Statement on Armed Bundy Terrorists' Malheur Occupation

[99th_Monkey]

Audubon Society of Portland: Statement on the Occupation of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge
By Bob Sallinger * Jan. 3, 2016 * Portland Audubon

Malheur National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1908 by President Theodore Roosevelt to protect the vast populations of waterbirds that were being decimated by wanton killing by the plume trade. The 188,000 acre refuge represents some of the most important bird habitat on the Pacific Flyway. It is one of the crown jewels of the National Wildlife Refuge System and belongs to all Americans. In 2013, the Refuge adopted a long-term management plan developed through an inclusive collaborative process that brought together the local community, tribes, conservation groups, state and federal agencies, and other stakeholders. These stakeholders have continued to work together to implement this strategy which includes one of the biggest wetland restoration efforts ever undertaken.

The occupation of Malheur by armed, out of state militia groups puts one of America’s most important wildlife refuges at risk. It violates the most basic principles of the Public Trust Doctrine and holds hostage public lands and public resources to serve the very narrow political agenda of the occupiers. The occupiers have used the flimsiest of pretexts to justify their actions—the conviction of two local ranchers in a case involving arson and poaching on public lands. Notably, neither the local community or the individuals convicted have requested or endorsed the occupation or the assistance of militia groups.

Portland Audubon fought 100 years ago to protect this incredible place. The powerful images taken by Portland Audubon founder, William Finley, of Malheur’s incredible bird populations and the wanton killing that was being inflicted upon them, caused President Roosevelt to make Malheur one of the first wildlife refuges in the Western United States. Portland Audubon calls upon the local, state and federal authorities to once again protect this incredible place for the amazing wildlife that live there and to preserve this natural heritage for current and future generations. Portland Audubon greatly appreciates the outstanding federal employees that staff the refuge, as well as members of the local community who have rejected this occupation. We hope for a safe, expeditious end to this armed occupation so that the myriad of local and non-local stakeholders can continue to work together to restore Malheur in ways that are supportive of both the local ecology and the local economy—the occupiers are serving nobody’s interests except their own.

MORE: http://audubonportland.org/news/audubon-society-of-portland-statement-on-the-occupation-of-malheur-national-wildlife-refuge

[JDPriestly]

1. I wonder whether those crazies knew what the word

"malheur" means when they took that bird sanctuary over.

le malheur adversity, misfortune
(=événement) misfortune, tragedy

http://dictionary.reverso.net/french-english/malheur

Not a propitious sign that they chose a place called "adversity" or "misfortune" to stage their stunt.

Ridiculous. What fools!

[99th_Monkey]

3. Wow. Thank you for that. Uncanny 'coincidence'? Not. nt

[NightWatcher]

2. The fuckers'll be shooting and deep frying the threatened birds by Tuesday

Damned mouth breathing knuckle draggers.

[Lizzie Poppet]

5. Fortunately, most are migratory.

And thus are elsewhere this time of year...

My biggest worry is that these assholes will provoke a battle (or someone on the other side will get impatient and do the same), and the compound will be destroyed. Not only would that be a shame for the buildings alone (many are lovely old stone structures built by the CCC), it's also the center of operations for the refuge, the point from which a lot of important operations for the birds are carried out.

[rusty quoin]

9. Me too. Destroy historic monuments like terrorists in the Middle East. They have much in common.

[SunSeeker]

19. Exactly the analogy that came to my mind as well. nt

[workinclasszero]

93. They are terrorist scum

but white Mormon terrorists get a pass in America, go figure.

If they were black kids with toy guns, not the real deadly weapons these traitor right wing filth have, they would all be dead and in the ground days ago!

[JDPriestly]

11. Maybe not. Maybe it will turn out to be similar to the

occupation of public property by Occupy.

[Paka]

15. I wish I could believe that,

but it's a completely different mentality at work here. The majority of people during Occupy were protesting for the great good, not individual twisted bias.

[JDPriestly]

16. I read what was behind this whole thing, which was

arson on public lands. I think you are right. They aren't protesting for any good cause.

Setting unauthorized fires on public land? That's horrible. I don't think Occupiers harmed the property they occupied in any way that could not be remedied easily. At least that was the case in Los Angeles.

[eppur_se_muova]

40. Arson for the purpose of destroying evidence of poaching on public lands.

No, not admirable people at all.

[passiveporcupine]

60. Not only that

They did not come armed with guns to defend their occupation.

This is nothing like anything Occupy has done.

[JDPriestly]

62. Occupy did not take over in order to shut people out. They welcomed different points of view.

In Los Angeles, they occupied the grounds around City Hall. I'm sure that their presence made getting to work more inconvenient for some city workers, but City Hall continued to function and to my knowledge no city work was actually impeded. Made a little tougher maybe, but not prevented.

Occupiers occupied public, open spaces, not enclosed areas. The Occupiers' vision seemed to be of a temporary occupation, not an exclusive takeover.

So there is a difference, a big one.

The Occupiers did not try to keep people out. These rebels seem to want to keep the public and the owners -- the people and the people's government out of the space they have taken over.

That's quite a difference.

[AtheistCrusader]

22. They probably felt about us, like we feel about them.

Might be a good time to try and bridge some understanding, rather than dismiss them.

Most hunting groups aren't against conservation at all. Something else is at work here. It may be that some of them aren't beyond reason.

[Tipperary]

35. I worry about that too. I appreciate your updates here since you have knowledge of that sanctuary

and the area. I am a bird lover and find this very worrying. Not to mention all the people who must be out of work during this idiocy and the lives disrupted in nearby towns. Please continue to post; it is very helpful!

[Lizzie Poppet]

44. Thank you!

I was (briefly) tempted to head out there, but not only are the driving conditions really awful - freezing rain and glare ice - but the authorities don't need some lookie-lou playing at being a reporter/blogger getting in the way (and I suspect motel rooms will be at an extreme premium in Burns just now...it's not like a town of 2700 has a lot of beds). So here I sit in ice-crusted Portland.

I love that place...the refuge HQ is in an isolated area with only some pretty-distant ranch houses as neighbors. The architecture is beautiful: old stone buildings made by the CCC decades ago. In waterfowl season, the bird population is just astonishing. I flyfish, and there's some good water in the area, but it's really challenging fishing: little human pressure, but the local trout have evolved to be extremely wary of avian predators (mergansers and such), so they're more than capable of making a human look like a fool.

My biggest worry here is that this will turn into a firefight and that wonderful facility will be destroyed. Not only would that be a loss of a little piece of Oregon's architectural heritage, but it's also the hub from which most all the work needed to operate the refuge comes.

[Tipperary]

55. I so want to visit that part of the country. I really hope they get those fools out of there without

collateral damage. I would be like you and want to go out there to see the situation first hand!

[Lizzie Poppet]

56. If you get the chance do it!

Under normal circumstances, it's both quiet and genuinely awe-inspiring country. It's about as far as you can get in several aspects from my usual urban Portlander life.

[passiveporcupine]

61. Please don't go now...anyone...that's what the militants are asking for

they are surrounded by media now and are begging people (by video) to come out and join in their defense, or just come out and observe, with the intent that having a lot of people there will keep violence from happening. In other words, they think a crowd will prevent the Feds from moving in and trying to get them out. In other words, they don't care if the crowds get hurt, they just want cover...protection. They backed themselves in a corner and there was some terrorist language issued in videos and now they are scared and trying to walk back the language of violence and seek protection from the public.

We don't need to be out there "helping" them out.

But like you, I wish I could make that trip. My car doesn't do snow. I'm snowed in right now and have been since Christmas.

[Quixote1818]

4. They expressed this beautifully! nt

[hollowdweller]

6. Yeah how is giving the land to private interests giving it to the people??

They'll just fuck up the water, put stupid fucking ATV trails all over it and kill off all the game and overgraze it.

It would seem keeping it as is actually letting more of the public benefit from it than their plan.

[Vinca]

29. Then they'll sell out to the condo builders.

[Enthusiast]

38. They will harvest the timber.

[Saviolo]

57. They have explicitly stated:

That they want the land given to private interests for logging, ranching, and mining.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/oregon-federal-building-occupied-1.3387507

It's like their whole understanding of the region is from playing Oregon Trail.

[Person 2713]

89. They have already put AtV trails through Native American ruins in the area..against law of course

[Snobblevitch]

7. I agree that the people occupying this federal facilictyvare idiots.

But to say they are putting the wildlife refuge at risk, at this point, is hyperbole. Of course they need to leave, but at no point have any migratory birds been harmed to their misguided actions.

[JNelson6563]

10. Really? "Hyperbole"?

They are doing their best to spark an armed confkict where they picture they'll be heroes to the oppressed masses!!1!

This situation could very possibly end in a terrible way which would devastate the refuge.

Of course it easy for me to see this clearly because I have no sympathy for these assholes. Note there is no "but"following my statement...

Julie

[Snobblevitch]

13. I do not support these idiots.

How could anything happen that would 'devastate' the refuge?

[Ned Flanders]

18. Lack of regular maintenance

I'd guess that like any large property, there's a serious amount of upkeep required. Culverts need to be cleared, roads fall apart in the winter, and a million other tasks associated with land ownership. And then consider that this probably isn't just a bunch of ponds, but rather a carefully-controlled ecosystem, just another layer of complexity.

Winter isn't nice to man-made stuff, especially up in that area of the desert.

[Snobblevitch]

27. How many clogged culverts have been a problem since this whole thing started?

Talk about hyperbole.

[Ned Flanders]

81. I assume you've never spent much time in that part of the country?

There aren't a lot of roads, especially due to the closed wildlife areas. A good percentage of official County roads are also dirt surfaced. So they are more prone to washout out (not a couple inches flowing over the pavement, but 1/4 mile stretches of road literally washed away at time), and when they do, it has a much greater impact on travelers.

[Snobblevitch]

84. How many roads have washed out in the last four days?

I said 'at this time'. I still think it is hyperbole to say the refuge is going to be devastated.

[Ned Flanders]

91. So let's see what happens the next time a storm drops a couple inches on the area. n/m

[Snobblevitch]

92. A couple inches of snow won't be a big deal.

Relax, the refuge is not going to be 'devastated' no natter what these meatheads do.

[eShirl]

25. You don't think they are capable of sabotage?

Seriously, after all they've done so far to achieve their ends?

[Snobblevitch]

28. What sabotoge?

Do you have a link?

[hopemountain]

30. provoking an armed attack on the refuge's infrastructure

that's how, snobblevitch.

you are aware, are you not,:

that the 2 arsons (134+acres of federal lands & threatening the lives of a worker crew);

and sentencing of the hammonds (initially a few days & extended to the minimum 5 years);

which the bundy terrorists are calling tyranny;

was also was an intentional cover-up for illegal poaching by the hammonds, right?

[Snobblevitch]

37. Provoking an armed attack?

I really hope the administration does not respond to the attack by attacking. That would only legitimize their actions. Let the occupy the place until they run out of supplies. They will eventually crawl out.

[bvar22]

65. That is what I thought they were doing at the first Bundy confrontation.

I know they had reels of video...all put through the facial recognition programs at NSA, plus the license plate of every car or truck that went through that county.
I believed they were "Playing it Smart"...let the whole mess stagnate, and when the terrorists got bored and went home, nab them there without a massive gunfight.
...I was thinking "Smart"....
But that isn't what happened
No arrests.

The fact that they (Feds, ATF) did NOT"DEAL" with the first Bundy confrontation IS the reason
we are facing the 2nd.

[Ned Flanders]

82. There have been other armed incursions as well

I recall a staged ride through a Native American village site in a canyon closed to OHV's. Plus minor other appearances in various tea bagger parties. And let's not forget those two sovereign citizens who killed two cops in Vegas, a month after leaving Bundy's first action.

[eppur_se_muova]

41. How about arson ? After all, they are riled about the conviction of two arsonists ...

who burned 139 acres of forest on public lands just to destroy the evidence of their illegal poaching.

[Snobblevitch]

43. What about the arson?

The two who are responsible for that have done some time in custody and are going to report for the rest of their sentence. (I wonder how that got screwed up.)

[atreides1]

54. How it got screwed up?

That would be the trial judge, who screwed that pooch!

Under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, which increased the penalties for arson committed against federal property, the mandatory minimum punishment for such crimes was upped to five years in federal prison. The law, which was passed in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing, struck the judge presiding over the sentencing as too harsh — and off-base in this instance.

"It just would not be — would not meet any idea I have of justice, proportionality," U.S. District Judge Michael R. Hogan said at the sentencing. "I am not supposed to use the word 'fairness' in criminal law. I know that I had a criminal law professor a long time ago yell at me for doing that. And I don't do that.

"But this — it would be a sentence which would shock the conscience to me."

At the time, Hogan sentenced Dwight Hammond Jr. to three months of prison, and Steven Hammond to a year and one day. The federal government wanted the full five years, appealing the shorter sentences and eventually winning that appeal in 2014.

[AtheistCrusader]

23. If violence happens, they'll lose. Plain and simple.

Worst case scenario, the building needs some repairs. They aren't going to do shit to the refuge.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

26. The refuge is a big place, these idiots have occupied an outhouse.

The birds should be just fine.

Birdwatchers may be temporarily inconvenienced.

[hopemountain]

31. this is bullshit and you know it. nt

[rhett o rick]

69. If unarmed hippies occupy a public park they get brutalized. If armed crazy-assed

idiots occupy Federal land they get a parade. We kill terrorists in Pakastan via drones, why not here.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

70. If we kill them with drones, we'll damage that outhouse.

Then, next spring, the birdwatchers will have to make do with more primitive facilities.

[rhett o rick]

74. Why do you have more contempt for the Audubon Society than the terrorists? nm

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

75. I don't advocate killing any members of either.

And the thing can be ended without structural damage to that very nice outhouse.

I very much hope the birdwatchers have nice facilities in the spring.

If we blow it up, the area will be filled with construction equipment and porta-potties.

And I wouldn't elevate these idiots to the title of "terrorist". They're just morons.

[rhett o rick]

76. So what do you propose? nm

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

77. I proposed it in another thread: huge loudspeakers

and Rick-Roll those idiots, 24x7.

With luck, they'll give up before the birds return in the spring.

Or, run a siege, cut off supply routes, jam communications.

[rhett o rick]

78. I could go along with that, as long as no birdwatchers are harmed. nm

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

79. Rick Astley 24x7 could destroy a birdwatcher's ability to hear a finch.

I don't know how many birds or birdwatchers are there in the winter. Hopefully not many.

[rug]

8. When even birdwatchers hate you, you're screwed.

[montana_hazeleyes]

14. You've really got a point there.

[UTUSN]

45. Yip, *now* the gunnutters have done it!1 n/t

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

72. Those birdwatchers have kicked some pro-wrestling butt!

http://www.out-law.com/page-2584

[davekriss]

12. K & R for Sallinger's clear statement

As somebody up-thread says, you know your cause is f*cked when even birdwatchers are against you!

[Yallow]

17. Good Thing No Firefighters Lost Their Lives Fighting The Fire

Arsonists.

Poachers.

I don't agree the government is wonderful all the time, but lighting forest fires?

Really?

Imagine how much fun they are having sitting around the fire, complaining about Obama, and stroking their pretty shiny guns. Feeling all powerful! Like they aren't brain dead jerks.

[Schema Thing]

39. I think I read that one or two were injured

[Ned Flanders]

83. My wife, the wildland fire captain of 30 years...

...still smiles and graciously accepts the tea baggers' thanks after she has saved their homes. Even when they're the idiot who started the fire, because they don't recognize government rules about burn days and pile size.

But she's laughing at them the whole time. They really don't get the irony. People in my area are losing their homeowners' fire insurance because tea baggers keep defunding local fire stations. Response times have doubled recently. But they spend how much $$$ on Gadsden and State of Jefferson flags?

[SunSeeker]

20. K & R

[captainarizona]

21. lucky their white

If they were african-american they would already be dead.

[99th_Monkey]

24. Yep. Just ask the Black Panthers

oh wait, you can't. They were murdered in their beds by cops at 3am.

Never mind.

[AlbertCat]

48. lucky their white

their white what?

[99th_Monkey]

59. Skin I'm guessing. n/t

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

73. Their white unperforated butts.

So far.

[roscoeroscoe]

32. Very nice statement

I hope it falls apart due to lack of local support and they are embarrassed. Peaceful, but embarrassing.

[dembotoz]

36. you are thinking these folks are capable of shame

tend not to think so

[malaise]

33. It would be nice to see M$Greedia carry this response

but many in the corporate media are as anti-government as these terrorists.

[BillZBubb]

34. corporate media are anti Liberal government.

But they are all for corporatist, MIC, right wing government.

[Herman4747]

42. "BELONGS TO ALL AMERICANS"...

...the salient point.

[dem in texas]

46. Sons of Nevada Rancher, Bundy, are the Ringleaders

Bundy owes the US government millions for running his cattle on public lands. He hides behind the excuse that his rights are being violated, while pocketing the money he made off his cattle.

Same for the two men in Oregon, made money off the use of government lands and breaking the law. That is why they are going to prison.

These nut-jobs protest against too much government, but won't turn down a chance to pocket some money at the taxpayer's expense.

I don't think this stand-off is going to end well.

[saidsimplesimon]

50. Let's ignore the fundies on this one.

Perhaps an overactive imagination, this story sent me into childish giggles. We can influence the outcome with laughter.

How about we broadcast a little humour their way?


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[Herman4747]

47. Refuge has its own Wikipedia page

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malheur_National_Wildlife_Refuge

and its own webpage.

http://www.fws.gov/refuge/malheur/

Some attractive birds stop by there, and the "Donner und Blitzen River" (I kid you not) flows on by.

[blackspade]

49. Vanilla ISIS at work again.

Why is it that right wings terrorists always go after government buildings?
San Bernadino and now this...lovely...
I guess they hate us for our freedoms.

[OregonBlue]

51. This refuge was designated by Teddy Roosevelt in 1908. It is not land that has been

taken from local ranchers. Their dearest wish is to be able to log, fish, hunt, run cattle, and drain it if that's what they need to be able to "recreate". The locals are very aware of what an amazing place it is and very proud of the job the government has done in protecting this resource. They are not happy with the Hammonds and are especially disgusted with the Bundyites that have flooded the area. The Hammonds were convicted in a court in Pendleton, Oregon. Not exactly a liberal bastion, so we know that Eastern Oregonians are not supporting them. The locals want it to end.

Hopefully the Hammonds will turn themselves in today. The government will shut off power and water and leave these guys to freeze their butts off. If the media would ignore them, they would go away.

[passiveporcupine]

63. I agree with you but this idiot does not

watch the short video at this link:

http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2016/01/oregon_militants_draw_social_m.html#incart_story_package

It's funny...at the end of this video in the link above, the militant says "Let's treat each other with some respect and civility". If they intended to treat people with respect and civility, they would not need to be armed.

[OregonBlue]

64. But they are not Oregon militants. They are foreign terrorists.

[passiveporcupine]

67. Why would you consider anyone from the US a foreigner?

I agree they are terrorists, but not foreigners. Or was that meant as humor?

[OregonBlue]

85. As you can probably tell, I'm from Oregon.

[passiveporcupine]

86. Yes, so am I

I thought it was a joke about hating everyone from other states.

[OregonBlue]

87. Not everyone. Just Teabilles who come here to stir up trouble.

[LynneSin]

52. We have two simliar wildlife refuges here in Delaware - Bombay and Primehook

And I would be absolutely devastated if they were to be occupied by these domestic terrorists. Many of these refuges are created to help protect migratory birds and they are also wonderful places to visit.

I read another suggestion from a DUer and I think it's our Federal Government's best choice. Cutoff all power, water & wifi to the Refuge. Then blockade any major roads so that resources would not be allowed to go into the park (unless these idiots think they can hike & survive through these refuges). Give them a few days they will be driving out from hunger, thirst and the desire to crap in a modern toilet.

[Dustlawyer]

53. These people are "Takers!" The irony is lost on them.

The Bundy's should have been punished by now. The fact that they weren't only encourages them.

[FairWinds]

58. Typical Reich-Wing Attitude Toward Property Rights . .

"What's mine is mine, and what's your's is negotiable."

They are always trying to grab public land, and sometimes succeed.

Veterans For Peace

[allan01]

66. seems to me that ranchers have always ignored public lands

[passiveporcupine]

68. These Bureau of Land Management militants

don't even know what they are fighting for (or against) here in Oregon. They think government land has been confiscated from locals and that has caused the local economy to tank. In fact it is technology and laws against deforestation that have had the biggest affect on logging, which used to be one of the biggest industries in Haney county.

the Bundy's and their group probably don't/can't/won't understand that technology changes affect many jobs. Especially labor intensive jobs.

Here are some interesting comments from another forum on this:

Even when they are running, modern mills produce more lumber with 10% of the employees that they needed 30 years ago. All the high volume repetitive tasks have been automated. Even in the woods, one guy running a faller-buncher can do the work that it took a crew of 20 to do in the '70s.

http://www.city-data.com/forum/oregon/1639611-what-happened-lumber-industry-2.html

And another comment from the same link.

There was a very real concern we would cut down all of our old growth forest reserves. I remember having conversations with forestry experts on the state of our vanishing old growth as far back as 1968 when I was attending college, so the situation has been evolving for a lot longer than 15 years. Many of the mills in western Oregon as well as that giant of a stud and plank mill in Hines (of all places - 90 miles from the nearest tree) were built in an era where "Old Growth" was still relatively plentiful. Retooling or rebuilding these mills has been prohibitively expensive, even impossible as the virgin stuff ran out.

Something not given much mention is the degree of automation found in many of the mills today. One person sitting in a control booth can grade and saw a log in less time than it once took several people to do. Even timber harvest has been given over to mass mechanical processes. My wife and I once watched a vehicle the size of a large road grader with this six foot in diameter circular saw attached to the front knock down more two and three foot trees in the fifteen minutes we stood watching it than a crew of loggers could in two days.

[rhett o rick]

71. Why isn't Obama taking action? His admin sure took quick action on OWS. nm

[red dog 1]

80. K&R...Thanks for posting

I support Audubon Society of Portland 100 percent.

Bundy & his right-wing pals can go to Hell!

[burrowowl]

88. K&R!!!!!!

[passiveporcupine]

90. This is interesting...an animated map of the facilities,

showing which three parts of the refuge facilities are occupied (three different areas) by the militants.

quick vid at link:

http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2016/01/militants_choice_of_malheur_re.html#incart_big-photo

[ffr]

94. Thieves and poachers. Nothing more. Nothing less. K&R