By now you have heard about this ragtag bunch of patriots-who-love-beards who have decided to illegally squat on federal land in some perverted attempt at achieving freedom from the tyranny of our government. This is the same government many of these guys get free stuff from. So while they record private testimonials (with all of the histrionics of a 14-year-old theater kid), get drunk and steal money, and lie about their military credentials—the essential work of maintaining the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge … for worthwhile wildlife, is not getting done.
Bob Sallinger, conservation director of the Audubon Society of Portland, hopes the occupation of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge by a militia group concludes before the explosion of life in April, when some three hundred bird species arrive to nest and forage.
“This refuge is one of the most important in the United States — it’s one of the crown jewels,” Sallinger said. “It needs to get back to the business of managing birds and restoring habitat.”
What’s at stake here is the 15-year management plan being collaborated on by many local groups.
In 2010, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began developing a new 15-year management plan for Malheur. The Audubon Society of Portland and a number of other stakeholders contributed to the development of this “Comprehensive Conservation Plan” (CCP). The final version of the CCP was approved in 2013.
The plan calls for an aggressive management regime to significantly limit introduced carp levels – 100 lbs. carp per square acre – to allow Malheur’s aquatic systems to recover and eventually support healthy waterbird and waterfowl populations. The CCP also calls for continued restoration and innovative management of upland habitats to ensure stable and productive native wildlife populations.
This work takes people and time and boots on the ground. Worrying about drunk assholes with guns who don’t understand the first thing about wildlife preservation, or the Constitution and democracy for that matter, has put the work on hold. It’s also suspended what has been a meaningful partnership for different interest groups in the area.
Ranchers, Sallinger says, worked for years with conservationists and others to protect the refuge by providing some habitat for migrating birds on ranchers’ land near the refuge. And for the local Burns Paiute tribe, it was important to protect important archaeological sites on the refuge as habitat was being restored.
[...]
“One of the exciting things is that the refuge brought the local community together ... they all came together and agreed to restore Malheur,” Sallinger said. “The occupiers are trying to sow complete discord.”
Projects like this are some of the best hopes for our democracy in that it unifies people in common good, regardless of their political affiliations. Bundy and his homogenous crew say they want the land to be given “back to the people.” But that’s what wildlife refuges are about. What Bundy and his ilk really want is to have the land they want to have and they want the government to give it to them for free. And who can blame them? Guys like them got used to being given things for free (it’s called the Homestead Act and the GI Bill, amongst others) from the government until someone told them getting help when you needed it in an unfair economic system was for black people, and now that they need help, they feel betrayed and angry and don’t know how to act.