Armed Oregon Group Asks Supporters to Send Supplies as Occupation Enters Second Week

Armed Oregon Group Asks Supporters to Send Supplies as Occupation Enters Second Week
A Dont Tread On Me flag flies at the entrance of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Sunday, Jan. 10, 2016, near Burns, Ore. A small, armed group has been occupying the remote national wildlife refuge in Oregon for a week to protest federal land use policies. AP Photo/Rick Bowmer
The Associated Press
Updated:

Members of the FBI stand guard at the Burns Municipal Airport, Sunday, Jan. 10, 2016, in Burns, Ore. A small, armed group has been occupying a remote national wildlife refuge in Oregon since a week earlier to protest federal land use policies. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
Members of the FBI stand guard at the Burns Municipal Airport, Sunday, Jan. 10, 2016, in Burns, Ore. A small, armed group has been occupying a remote national wildlife refuge in Oregon since a week earlier to protest federal land use policies. AP Photo/Rick Bowmer

 

Also Saturday a separate group of armed men arrived but left several hours later after occupation leaders told them they weren’t needed.

The Pacific Patriot Network showed up Saturday in a convoy of about 18 vehicles, carrying rifles and handguns and dressed in military attire and bulletproof vests. They said they were there to help with security. They departed the refuge area after LaVoy Finicum said the network’s help was appreciated, but “we want the long guns put away.”

The standoff is the latest flare up of tensions over federal management of Western lands.

The federal government manages most of the land in many Western states, including 53 percent of Oregon. While ranchers and others object to what they say are unfair rules, environmentalists say mining, logging and ranching have run roughshod for decades on public land and left a legacy of pollution for taxpayers to clean up.