Majority of land in Oregon is owned by the Federal government

By Holly Yan and Joe Sutton, CNN

Updated 5:28 AM ET, Sun January 3, 2016

(CNN) A group of armed protesters have taken over a building in a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon, accusing officials of unfairly punishing ranchers who refused to sell their land, a spokesman for the group told CNN.

The protesters occupied part of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns after a march supporting Dwight and Steven Hammond, two ranchers who are convicted of arson.

Prosecutors said the Hammonds set the fire, which burned about 130 acres in 2001, to cover up poaching. The father and son were sentenced to five years in prison.

The Hammonds said they lit the fire to reduce the growth of invasive plants and protect their property from wildfires, CNN affiliate KTVZ reported.

After the march Saturday, the armed protesters broke into the refuge’s unoccupied building and refused to leave.

“We will be here as long as it takes,” said Ammon Bundy, a spokesman for the group. “We have no intentions of using force upon anyone, (but) if force is used against us, we would defend ourselves.”

Bundy is the 40-year-old son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who drew national attention last year after staging a standoff with federal authorities over a Bureau of Land Management dispute.

Ammon Bundy said the group in Oregon was armed, but said he would not describe it as a militia. Bundy declined to say how many people were occupying the building.

“We are not terrorists,” he said. “We are concerned citizens and realize we have to act if we want to pass along anything to our children.”

But many were calling the armed protesters a “militia.”

“I don’t like the militia’s methods,” local resident Monica McCannon told KTVZ. “They had their rally. Now it’s time for them to go home. People are afraid of them.”

A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokesperson said the agency and the Bureau of Land Management are aware of the armed protesters.

“While the situation is ongoing, the main concern is employee safety, and we can confirm that no federal staff were in the building at the time of the initial incident,” the spokesperson said. “We will continue to monitor the situation.”

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