BLM, in Trump’s final days, issues disputed grazing permit to Hammonds

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The U.S. Bureau of Land Management, in the final days of the Trump administration, issued a grazing permit to two Eastern Oregon father-and-son ranchers whose imprisonment sparked the armed takeover of a federal wildlife refuge.

Oregon Public Broadcasting reports that Interior Secretary David Bernhardt restored Dwight and Steven Hammond’s grazing permit, which lasts for 10 years.

The Hammonds had it revoked after a jury convicted them in 2012 for arson on public lands. The men went to prison, served time and were released, but the U.S. Department of Justice later ordered them back to prison to finish the mandatory minimum five-year sentence.

That sparked the 41-day armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. The Oregon State Police fatally shot one occupier, LaVoy Finicum, saying he reached for a pistol at a roadblock.

The leaders of the takeover, Ammon and Ryan Bundy, and five others were later acquitted of conspiring to impede federal workers from their jobs at the refuge.

In 2018, then-President Donald Trump pardoned the Hammonds, allowing them to be freed from federal prison.

Read more at: https://apnews.com/article/wildlife-arson-david-bernhardt-oregon-steven-hammond-ac4d2da3a668516b28510e6f9a066206