This is a guest post by Kert Davies originally published at PolluterWatch.
Last weekend when an armed group of men in eastern Oregon occupied building within a National Wildlife Refuge to protest the jailing of a rancher for Federal crimes, we immediately went to theย Anti-Environmental Archivesย to do some research.ย Lo and behold, the Archives contain lots of documents about the location, the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and lots of information on the decades longย conflict between ranchers like Dwight Hammond who want to run their cattle into protected areas and Federal authorities seeking to uphold the law and protect the area fromย despoliation.ย
The Refuge,ย home to millions of migratory birds,ย was established in 1908 by President Theodore Roosevelt. Starting in March, according to theย Fish & Wildlife Service website, visitors will see the annual torrent of โgreater sandhill cranes, tundra swans, northern pintails and white-fronted, snow, Ross’ and Canada geeseโฆAmerican white pelicans, double-crested cormorants, western grebes, long-billed curlews, and American avocetsโ along with numerous songbirds. ย Must be something to see and hear.ย Meanwhile, there are a few non-migratory armed thugs in cowboyย hats.
We publishedย the Anti-Environmental Archivesย in April 2015, a catalog of thousands of original documents published by and about the groups involved in theย Wise Use Movement.ย You canย search the Archivesย for yourself here.ย ย
Much of the media coverage of the Oregon situation has been light on the long history of anti-Federal government agitation in the West.ย Some reporters have described theย โSagebrush Rebellionโ,ย the resistance to Federal control of Western lands that originally dates back to the early 1990s and was emboldened by the Reagan Administration and Interior Secretary Jamesย Watt.
Missing from coverage is mention of the pro-logging, pro-ranching, pro-mining Wise Use Movement, which escalated in the early 1990s during the Clinton Administration. ย These local fights eventually led to the election of such extremists as Representative Richard Pombo (Republican of California) who authored a book titledย โThis Land is Our Land: How to End the War on Private Propertyโย in 1996. ย The most memorable was over the protection of the endangered Spotted Owl in western Oregon and Washington state, which restricted logging of old growth timber. ย But the fight with the Bureau of Land Management over grazing โrightsโ was at the heart of Wise Use conflict. ย In fact, Western ranchersย are recipients of the one of the largest federalย welfareย programs, (~$500 Million in taxpayer money in 2014), getting below-market-value leases to public lands to graze theirย cattle.
Much of the reporting on the armed occupation in Oregon has also failedย to go very deepย on rancher Dwight Hammond, the inspiration for the protest that begat the armed occupation of the refuge last weekend. ย Its important context that Hammond has been war with the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and federal authoritiesย going back to the 1970s, that he was arrested in the early 1990s for blocking a fence being built on the Refuge border. ย These incidents were well before the 2001 arson, for which they were convicted and for which Hammond and son are now in prison. Thus the Hammonds became hero/martyrs of the Wise Use Movement more than 20 years ago.ย ย
Theย right wing mediaย is playing this like a righteous fight against the oppressive Federal government. ย The racialย hypocrisy in press coverageย of this mess is not unnoticed. Will we see aย Republican candidateย make anti-environmental anti-Federal land ownershipย promises?
*****
Here is a Anti-Environmental Archives folder of all the documents mentioningย Dwight Hammondย and some examples of what’sย inside:
ยทย ย ย ย ย Thisย fundraising tear-outย for Hammondโs cause in Autumn 1995 newsletter โThe Private Sector/ Wise Useย Memo.
ยทย ย ย ย ย Anotherย appeal for fundsย to help the Hammonds with legalย fees
ยทย ย ย ย ย An ad in the local paper forย rally for the Hammondโs causeย dated August 10, 1994, with guest speakerย Chuck Cushmanย of the American Land Rights Association, one of the ringleaders of the Wise Useย Movement.
The Bundysย arenโt found in our archive but their fight with the Federal government also stretches decades, cut from the same mold as a long line of Wise Use anti-federal governmentย extremists.
Then there isย Ken Ivory and the American Lands Council, the leading voice of the modern wise use/ property rights/ federal lands movement. ย He has been working withย ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, and groups in various states pushing initiatives to return Federal land to states or to privateย hands.
The interlace between theย Wise Use Movement and the โmilitia movementโ was also a topic of research in the 1990s after the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building โฆAnti-environmentalists found kinship on anti-Federal government sentiments atย militia movementย meetings across the country, which sprung up starting aroundย 1993.
And the beat goesย onโฆ
Furtherย Resources:
Greenpeace Guide to the Anti-Environmental Movementย (1993) – profiles of prominent corporate-funded front groups fighting against environmentalย protection.
High Country Newsย just published a nice history โForty years of Sagebrushย Rebellionโ
Jon Krakauer wrote a pieceย about the Wise Use Movement in 1991 forย Outsideย Magazine
Andy Rowellโs 1996 book,ย Greenย Backlash
David Helvargโs 1997 book,ย War Against theย Greens
New York Times Op-ed 1/6/2016 by Nancy Langstonย โIn Oregon, Myth Mixes Withย Angerโ
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