Anti-refuge takeover protesters stage Bend rally, march

About 100 opponents of the armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge gathered 150 miles away in Bend on Friday for a protest and march through downtown streets, urging occupiers to leave and allow the public lands to reopen to the public.

A group called Great Old Broads for Wilderness organized the event, with several speakers at the Crow’s Feet Commons to send a message to the leaders of the nearly two-week-old occupation.

Rally organizers said they believe public lands are part of America’s heritage, and called on the government to enforce the laws that protect those lands.

The speakers also said issues with those laws should be handled through a Democratic process, not bullying, intimidation and armed anarchy.

They held aloft protest signs with messages such as, “Bullies Go Home!” “Law Abiding Citizens for America’s Public Lands” and “Public Lands are America’s Refuge.” Several passers-by also stopped to listen to the speakers.

“It’s time for the bullies to go home,” said protester Alice Elshoff, who serves on the board of the Friends of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, a nonprofit that supports its staff and programs and advocates for support of the refuge.

“We’ve felt that way ever since they first came,” she said. “It’s not just their tactics that are wrong. It’s their message that is just wrong-headed. The majority of the American people love their public lands.”

“We understand what it means for the long term,” she said. “We want our children, our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren — I’m a great-grandmother — we want them to be able to know our public lands like we have.”

Rynda Clark, a co-leader of the Great Old Broads for Wildlife, said, “And it’s time for the bullies to go home. We don’t have to be militants to have our voices heard in this country.”

Another protest will be held at the Crow’s Feet Commons at noon on Tuesday Jan. 19. That protest will be part of a statewide rally expressing appreciation for national public lands.

Other speakers included Julie Weikel, a Harney County resident who said the occupation actually is harming ongoing cooperative efforts between local ranchers and the Bureau of Land Management to resolve their issues. She took part in the process to develop a comprehensive conservation plan for the refuge.