What life in Harney County looks like 10 years after the Malheur occupation : NPR
A decade after the 40-day armed occupation of a federally owned wildlife refuge in Oregon, residents are reflecting on the occupiers’ failed attempt to end federal land ownership.
SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Ten years ago today, the country watched as a group of armed anti-government militants took over a federal wildlife refuge in rural Oregon. The standoff lasted 41 days. Oregon Public Broadcasting’s Conrad Wilson returned to the scene.
(SOUNDBITE OF COYOTES HOWLING)
CONRAD WILSON, BYLINE: Sagebrush sparkles in the fading winter light above the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, a vast, high desert, a sea of greens and browns that stretches for miles. This is where the armed group led by Ammon Bundy and his brother attempted to start a movement.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
AMMON BUNDY: We are on defense, and when the time comes, we will begin to defend the people of Harney County using the land and resources.
WILSON: They said they came to support a local ranching family being sued by the federal government. Law enforcement and media visited Harney County. Today, many people in this deep red corner of Oregon remember the occupation as exploitation, something that happened here, but not from here.
JEFF ROSE: They represented certain opinions. I think they were opportunistic.
WILSON: Jeff Rose has lived in Burns, the county seat, for almost 40 years. During the standoff, he worked for the Bureau of Land Management. The federal agency leases public land to ranchers for livestock grazing and has been targeted by the Bundys.
ROSE: I don’t feel like they represented the community as a whole.
WILSON: Harney County is about as big as Massachusetts, but only about 7,000 people live there. The nearest towns are a few hours away. According to Rose, this isolation means the community must cooperate.
ROSE: We can talk together. We can make things work together, we know each other and we are able to overcome some of these obstacles.
WILSON: Because you have to.
ROSE: Because we have to. I mean, there’s no choice.
WILSON: Across Harney County, some were open to the Bundys’ message that the federal government does more harm than good. But their general ideology that the government has no right to dictate what happens on public lands hasn’t really held up.
BRENDA SMITH: We were moving forward, even when this was happening.
WILSON: Brenda Smith leads a coalition that includes ranchers, conservation groups, federal land managers and others. His nonprofit, High Desert Partnership, focused on finding common ground long before the Bundys arrived. Conversations can be difficult. But most of the dozen people I spoke with said the partnership was a key reason the attempt to launch a broader rebellion didn’t work here and limited the damage caused by the occupation.
SMITH: Someone hasn’t done their homework on, you know, the work that we’ve been doing for a long time to try to repair some difficult relationships that existed, particularly around public and private land management.
(SOUNDBITE OF COW MOOING)
WILSON: Scott and Nellie Franklin feed about 140 heifers in Harney County, just down the road from the wildlife refuge.
SCOTT FRANKLIN: So it’s good green hay. They like it.
WILSON: Nellie Franklin was the elected treasurer of Harney County during the occupation. Even though many people here want to put this event behind them, she noticed that some ideas remained stuck.
NELLIE FRANKLIN: I don’t know. It kind of sparked a movement, maybe, but…
WILSON: What do you mean?
N FRANKLIN: Well, I think more people have talked about – and I hate this term – government overreach.
WILSON: The occupation pits neighbors against each other. Nellie says Oregonians have tried in the past to heal divisions over the occupation.
N FRANKLIN: There were some people who were really excited, but we’re still friends with them, and a lot of us have been for a long time. And it manifests itself as you get back into relationships and move on.
WILSON: People here say they rarely talk about the occupation and that it doesn’t add much in terms of takeaways, but there may be one: the importance of resolving disagreements with neighbors and friends.
For NPR News, my name is Conrad Wilson and I live in Harney County, Oregon.
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