Interior Secretary Jewell to visit Harney County Monday
U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and Deputy Interior Secretary Michael Connor will travel to Harney County on Monday to meet with employees affected by the 41-day Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation, as well as community and tribal leaders, the agency announced Sunday.
The brief announcement said Jewell will meet “with community and tribal leaders who are working collaboratively on thoughtful management of public and private lands in southeastern Oregon.”
“While there, Jewell and Connor will meet with Harney County officials, the High Desert Partnership, the Burns Paiute Tribe, and public land management employees.,” the department said, and also will hold “a brief media availability about her visit.”
The visit comes more than a month after the end of the takeover of the refuge south of Burns by critics of current government policies on federal lands and their relationships with area ranchers and residents.
“As the community continues to recover from the illegal occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, I know that deepening the strong partnerships already in place will be important to the healing process,” Jewell said.
“I’m here to talk to local leaders about what’s working in southeastern Oregon and what opportunities exist to work more collaboratively when it comes to managing our nation’s public lands that belong to all of us,” she added.
Jewell was last in the region a year ago with Gov. Kate Brown to celebrate landmark partnerships that helped sustain working ranch lands and allowed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to determine that the greater sage-grouse did not need protection under the Endangered Species Act.
