Sagebrush Insurgency a SPECIA L REPORT CONTENTS

Home , Ammon Bundy, Bundy standoff, Glenn Palmer (sheriff), Oath Keepers, Three Percenters

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High Country ForN people whoews care about the West February 8, 2016 | $5 | Vol. 48 No. 2 | www.hcn.org 48 No. | $5 Vol. February 8, 2016 Inside the Sagebrush Insurgency A SPECIA L REPORT CONTENTS

Editor’s note Not rebels, but insurgents

The closest I ever came to understanding genuine terror was in Sri Lanka, in 2007. For five weeks, I’d been reporting on the insurgency of the Tamil Tigers, a separatist group fighting the Buddhist majority government. The insurgency had grown increasingly violent over the years, and bombings around the country had intensified. When my work in the capital, Colombo, was done, I jumped on a crowded bus and left town, ready for a few days of decompression at a beach on the other side of the island. That afternoon, on the last leg of the trip, two young, nervous-looking men suddenly pushed their way through the passengers and sprang off the bus, sprinting away as hard as they could. Bomb, Joseph Rice of the Josephine County, Oregon, Oath Keepers brandishes the U.S. Constitution at a rally last I thought, and I was not alone. Instantly, the April outside the local Bureau of Land Management o ce. e rally was in support of George Backes and Rick Barclay (pictured from le), who had been ordered to le new paperwork or stop mining their claim on BLM passengers stampeded for the exits at either end of land. JIM URQUHART/REUTERS the bus. I was stuck in the middle, and as terrified men, women and children tumbled off the bus, one SPECIAL REPORT: Inside the Sagebrush Insurgency after another, I caught myself praying: “Not like this. Please, not like this.” 10 On the cover Showdown at Sugar Pine I escaped the bus, and in a matter of minutes How the Oath Keepers turned a small-time mining dispute learned there was never a bomb, merely two An armed member into a major Sagebrush Insurgency event. By Tay Wiles of the Oath Keepers mischievous boys running for home, oblivious stands guard at 16 Finding Common Cause to us passengers, who now stood aghast in the the Sugar Pine By HCN staff middle of the road. “I think it was a joke,” one Mine in Josephine Where a sprawling network of actors connects. These ain’t your daddy’s Sagebrush Rebels. By Jonathan Thompson man whispered to me. Later, as I covered similar County, Oregon, conflicts in southern Thailand and Afghanistan, in an operation 18 aimed at defending Sagebrush Sheriffs I often thought of that bus and the nonexistent the constitutional How rural peace officers are joining the radical right’s war against the feds. bomb. In the events that have unfolded in the past rights of two By Jonathan Thompson days, including the shooting death of a militiaman miners last April. in Oregon, I’ve started thinking about them again. 22 JIM URQUHART/REUTERS Arms Race on the Range That’s because High Country News has been The BLM is more armed than ever, but it’s still outgunned. digging into the connections between people like By Marshall Swearingen those who occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and a broader network of malcontents bent on delegitimizing the federal government. CURRENTS This magazine has followed the Sagebrush Rebellion for decades, but during the last two 5 A legal and moral case for climate action years, our journalists have focused on something 6 Hope for the Klamath River Basin? more insidious, an inchoate movement of militants, 7 Undermining the West law enforcement officers, state politicians, county commissioners and other supporters that I believe is 7 The Latest: Another Sagebrush Rebel lawsuit more dangerous than it first appears. The Malheur occupation is only part of it. The State Department Complete access DEPARTMENTS to subscriber-only defines an insurgency as “the organized use of content 3 HCN.ORG NEWS IN BRIEF subversion and violence to seize, nullify, or challenge HCN’s website political control of a region.” That’s starting to hcn.org 4 LETTERS happen right here in the West. Digital edition 8 THE HCN COMMUNITY Research Fund, Dear Friends These would-be guerrillas are different from hcne.ws/digi-4802 26 MARKETPLACE other insurgents in degree, not kind. They are not Tablet and mobile apps interested in the rule of law, nor the principles of hcne.ws/HCNmobile-app 28 WRITERS ON THE RANGE democracy. They are zealots, blind to all but their Rep. Rob Bishop’s assault on Theodore Roosevelt By David Jenkins version of the truth, stumbling toward some unseen flashpoint. We’ve dedicated much of the current 30 BOOKS issue to understanding this movement, one that is Follow us Reviewed by Ben Goldfarb Gold Fame Citrus by Claire Vaye Watkins. largely unknown to the public and perhaps partially 31 ESSAY Cursing the mountain By Leath Tonino obscure even to itself. The problem is not going 32 HEARD AROUND THE WEST By Ben Goldfarb anywhere, and, though I wish it were, it’s certainly @highcountrynews not a joke. —Brian Calvert, managing editor 2 High Country News February 8, 2016 FROM OUR WEB SITE: HCN.ORG

Obama moves on coal Trending January was a turbulent month for the coal industry. On Jan. 11, Arch Coal, one of the Sagebrush nation’s largest coal companies, filed for recession bankruptcy. The company’s financial troubles Sagebrush Rebellion- stem from short-sighted investments and the linked events like utilities’ recent shift to natural gas, because the occupation of of its lower price and to comply with state the Malheur Wildlife and federal air pollution regulations. On Refuge in Harney Jan. 15, the Interior Department announced County, Oregon, an immediate moratorium on new federal often happen in coal leases, as it takes a closer look at the places that have had program. White House officials say the pro- dramatic economic gram should be updated to reflect the impact downturns, typically that coal burning has on the climate and to the result of changing ensure that taxpayers and local communities technology and the near the mines get a fair payout from that West’s drift away from public coal. Meanwhile, the national shifts extractive industries. in coal production are playing out at a local For example, Harney scale. Oregon and Washington are both County once had a considering legislation that would reduce thriving economy coal-fueled energy use, and the prospect is driven largely by causing uncertainty in coal-producing towns the timber industry. in Montana. Today, fewer than 200 ELIZABETH SHOGREN AND BRYCE GRAY jobs — or 4 percent A haul truck carries overburden away from draglines at Wyoming’s Black under Coal Mine, MORE: hcne.ws/mt-coal — are associated with operated by Arch Coal, in 2012. Arch Coal says it doesn’t anticipate major layos at its mines, hcne.ws/coal-moratorium logging and forestry. despite its recent ling for bankruptcy. © GREENPEACE/TIM AUBRY hcne.ws/archcoal-bankrupt Other flare-ups in New Mexico and Montana followed closely on Climate shield cold-water habitats for the decline of mining, How to shelter juvenile bull trout. Scenario: 2080s. logging and ranching. mountain streams Still, most counties 80 Occupancy probability have opted to reinvent percent by which Fort Collins, Colorado, Bull trout are an indicator > 90 % themselves rather plans to cut its carbon emissions by 2030. species of stream health, 50% to 90% but they’ve been devastated 10% to 50% than turn toward by mining pollution, < 10% rebellion. PAIGE year it plans to be agricultural runoff and non- BLANKENBUEHLER carbon neutral. native competitors. Those 2050 populations that survive You say Even as world leaders struggled to set are further threatened by NANCY COSCIONE: climate goals, Western cities like Fort rising stream temperatures. “Grow hemp, go Collins have charged ahead on reducing But Forest Service research organic, embrace greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the biologist Dan Isaak and his nature and ecological catastrophe scientists warn of. colleagues are mapping biodiversity, instead With its purple political background and where stream temperatures of destroying and acknowledged need to wean itself from are likely to stay cold and conquering it.” coal power, Fort Collins could serve as a could offer a refuge not just blueprint for other mid-sized communities. for bull trout, but other cold- The city’s aggressive plan to be carbon- water fish across the West. LEE NELLIS: “We have neutral by 2050 relies partly on solar-panel Those new maps are being done a poor job of and energy-efficiency rebates, and a new used to identify areas for dealing with the community solar garden. Still, those plans reclamation and protection. economic evolution of the West.” will come at a price, as much as $300 KRISTA LANGLOIS The cold-water climate shield helps fish and wildlife managers million by 2020. JOSHUA ZAFFOS MORE: hcne.ws/ determine what streams will be cold enough to support native fish in ROSE COMSTOCK: MORE: hcne.ws/action-on-climate save-a-stream the future. USDA, U.S. FOREST SERVICE, ROCKY MOUNTAIN RESEARCH STATION “You’d think there’d be enough room for everyone to enjoy and use those lands without all Photos the dust-ups, but rural communities 10.1 Jumpers-in-training dependent on access million acres burned Every year before the summer to public lands for a in wildfires in 2015. fire season, novice smokejumpers variety of economic This surpassed the undergo strenuous training to activity have been previous record of prepare them for the rapidly given the short end of 9.9 million acres, set changing conditions they will stick.” in 2006, the biggest face in the field. Experienced MORE: hcne.ws/ year documented since jumpers help train new recruits for rebel-economics modern record keeping dangerous work, which involves and Facebook.com/ began, in 1960. parachuting out of planes to fight highcountrynews GLORIA DICKIE fires. Photographer Matt Mills MORE: hcne.ws/ McKnight spent three days at a 2015-wildfires training in McCall, Idaho. MORE: hcne.ws/smokejumper-pics MATT MILLS MCKNIGHT MATT

www.hcn.org High Country News 3 LETTERS Send letters to [email protected] or Editor, HCN, P.O. Box 1090, Paonia, CO 81428.

High Country News LETHAL TOOLS GREED TRUMPS COOPERATION EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR/PUBLISHER Paul Larmer Ben Goldfarb shines an even-handed The Dec. 7 feature “Good Neighbors” MANAGING EDITOR light on Wildlife Services, a federal was an interesting article, and hooray Brian Calvert agency operating in the shadows whose for the “kumbaya” factor among the SENIOR EDITORS purpose is “controlling” targeted wildlife parties involved. But the author failed Jodi Peterson Jonathan Thompson species, by any means (“The Forever to explore the real story of fossil water ART DIRECTOR War,” HCN, 1/25/16). The 2014 statistics mining that he alludes to. I have an old Cindy Wehling Goldfarb cited show just how effectively friend who lives in the Sulphur Springs ONLINE EDITOR and quietly the agency goes about the Valley, and because of the obscene Tay Wiles job of killing. Its objectives reflect and ASSISTANT EDITOR thirsts of agribusiness and the collu- Kate Schimel remain rooted in an anachronistic 19th sion of Arizona’s do-nothing guvment, D.C. CORRESPONDENT century mindset. As documented in M. his life and property were pretty much Elizabeth Shogren J. Robinson’s Predatory Bureaucracy, ruined after he spent his scant savings WRITERS ON THE RANGE whenever the agency’s continuance and to deepen a well that went dry anyway. EDITOR Betsy Marston ASSOCIATE DESIGNER purposes have been seriously chal- He now gets water trucked in. I don’t Brooke Warren lenged, it has simply reduced its public see him on that connections chart, or COPY EDITOR exposure, changed its name, tweaked its any of the other low-impact retirees Diane Sylvain mission to give the appearance of new- living out their “golden years” there. As CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Cally Carswell found legitimacy, and continued doing for all those multi-generation cattlemen, Sarah Gilman what it has always done: killing wildlife. as far as I’m concerned, they are all part Michelle Nijhuis The ecological collateral damage it has of a long line of welfare ranchers who CORRESPONDENTS wrought includes the near extinction Ben Goldfarb have relied on the federal government Krista Langlois of the black-footed ferret, when, in the the San Diego Port Authority on behalf for everything from Indian removal to Sarah Tory past, the agency single-mindedly sought of Trans World Airlines just prior to predator extermination to public-land Joshua Zaffos to eliminate all rodents, particularly their third and final bankruptcy. It was EDITORIAL FELLOW grazing to support their “way of life.” All Paige Blankenbuehler prairie dogs, from Western grazing secured, dollar for dollar, by $25 million this yak about cooperation is just BS INTERNS lands. of cash held at my bank. Logically, that when greedy people continue to destroy Lyndsey Gilpin The agency may be talking up much- was the only way to ensure future per- the desert. Bryce Gray needed “nonlethal techniques” as a dis- formance in the event of bankruptcy. ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Mike Sennett traction, but as Goldfarb reports, bottom Yet later upon my arrival in the Alexis Halbert Bellingham, Washington DEVELOPMENT MANAGER line, “it does not influence (ongoing) field American West, I discovered that Alyssa Pinkerton operations,” the agency’s real business. concerns regarding performance risks DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANT The hegemony of Western stock-grower had been cast aside. I could ensure to LOCAL MEASURES FOR DESPERATE TIMES Christine List associations, congressional representa- the satisfaction of any number of state SUBSCRIPTIONS MARKETER Regarding your Dec. 7 feature “Good tives, state politicians, ranchers and regulatory bodies (e.g. Colorado, Idaho, JoAnn Kalenak Neighbors,” I’ve never understood why WEB DEVELOPER Eric Strebel Wildlife Services’ biologists and officials and Wyoming) that mine reclamation Peter Kropotkin’s book Mutual Aid has DATABASE/IT ADMINISTRATOR may cynically talk up nonlethal meth- would be completed simply by providing been buried for over a century in favor Alan Wells ods publicly, but, wink, wink, continue a short-term standby-letter of credit. All COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT of a “survival of the fittest” mentality. as they damn well please behind the of us bankers knew that the financial Gretchen King The scholars mentioned in this story scenes. While bounties per se may have instruments we were using to support FINANCE MANAGER would do well to look it over if they Beckie Avera been discontinued, the way that both future reclamation were short-term, aren’t familiar with it. The American ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE Western states’ federal grazing pro- and further, that the actual history of West is all about a shared commons and Jan Ho man grams and Wildlife Services are funded reclamation in the American West made CIRCULATION MANAGER altruism on the local level, confronted incentivizes the killing of predators. clear that we could all easily avoid Tammy York by forces of greed that may be local (like M-44s, poisons, leg-hold traps, snares, liability either now or in the distant CIRCULATION SYSTEMS ADMIN. Cliven Bundy or real estate develop- Kathy Martinez and aerial gunning remain the principal future. ers) but more often than not are from CIRCULATION tools of those so-called “services.” We also knew that the risks implicit outside the region, such as mining and Doris Teel, Kati Johnson, in any mining operation were categori- Stephanie Kyle Earle F. Layser agribusiness. Now that things are get- cally broad, i.e., they involved commod- ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Alta, Wyoming ting a bit desperate, we’ll have to think David J. Anderson ity, transportation, personnel, economic, and act more local and long-term to ADVERTISING SALES political and environmental risks, and REPRESENTATIVE keep the American West viable in the therefore, necessitated the provision of Bob Wedemeyer RISKS AND REGULATIONS long run. GRANTWRITER cash held in trust as the only rational Janet Reasoner Wonderful trenchant article on the means available to offset performance Bryan T. Burke FOUNDER Tom Bell surface, but the real story lies just below risks and ensure future mine remedia- Eloy, Arizona [email protected] ground (“Coal company bankruptcies tion. [email protected] jeopardize reclamation,” HCN, 1/25/16). The reclamation decisions that have [email protected] [email protected] The article mentioned the various been made, and are being made today, [email protected] methods that are used to ensure a mine remain grounded on local jobs and cor- BOARD OF DIRECTORS site would be cleaned up in the future, porate profits — not future reclamation. John Belkin, Colo. i.e., surety bonds, letters of credit, cash Erick Miller Beth Conover, Colo. deposits, etc. As a young bank officer, Jay Dean, Calif. Salida, Colorado Bob Fulkerson, Nev. my first letter of credit was provided to Wayne Hare, Colo. Laura Helmuth, Md. John Heyneman, Wyo. Samaria Ja e, Calif. Nicole Lampe, Ore. Marla Painter, N.M. Dan Stonington, Wash. High Country News is a nonprot 501(c)(3) (ISSN/0191/5657) is published bi-weekly, 22 times a year, by High Country News, 119 Grand Printed on Rick Tallman, Colo. High independent media organization that covers the Ave., Paonia, CO 81428. Periodicals, postage paid at Paonia, CO, and other post ofﬁces. recycled paper. Luis Torres, N.M. issues that dene the American West. Its mission is POSTMASTER: Send address changes to High Country News, Box 1090, Paonia, CO 81428. All Andy Wiessner, Colo. Country to inform and inspire people to act on behalf of the rights to publication of articles in this issue are reserved. See hcn.org for submission guidelines. Florence Williams, D.C. News region’s diverse natural and human communities. Subscriptions to HCN are $37 a year, $47 for institutions: 800-905-1155 | hcn.org 4 High Country News February 8, 2016 CURRENTS A legal and moral case for climate action In Washington, the ‘necessity defense’ goes on trial

BY CALLY CARSWELL

n mid-January, a standing-room-only I crowd packed a county courtroom near Seattle for a case so minor it normally would not have gone to trial. The five defendants were each charged with two misdemeanors: trespass and obstructing a train. All admitted to the crimes but pleaded “not guilty.” Their defense, in simplified terms, was “climate change made me do it.” At sunrise on Sept. 2, 2014, the five slipped into Burlington Northern Santa Fe’s Delta railyard in Everett, Washing- ton. They wanted to take a stand against the expansion of fossil-fuel transportation corridors in the Pacific Northwest, a cru- cial export hub to Asia, so they decided to says DeChristopher, is to unleash the “full state has so far seen their most notewor- try blocking a coal or oil train. Abby Brockway waves potential of civil disobedience as a tool for thy successes. A 2014 lawsuit filed on be- from atop a tripod The protesters erected a tripod of steel change.” He says that often means pass- half of eight young King County residents erected to block poles across the tracks in front of an or- ing on a plea bargain, going to trial and sought to force the state to cut carbon to trains at a Burlington ange locomotive trailed by silver oil tank- taking advantage of the resulting public protect the people’s right to a clean and Northern Santa Fe yard ers. Abby Brockway scaled the tripod; the spotlight. The center is particularly fo- stable atmosphere, which their lawyers in Everett, Washington, other four — Patrick Mazza, Liz Spoerri, to protest oil and coal cused on testing the necessity defense. argued was part of the public trust. This Mike Lapointe and Jackie Minchew — export terminals in the Since some people who commit acts of November, a judge upheld the environ- locked themselves to its legs. Police and Northwest. civil disobedience believe they’re obey- mentalists’ essential argument that the firefighters eventually used a fire-truck ELAINE THOMPSON/AP ing moral laws, it can be a way to make a state is legally required to “preserve, pro- ladder to extract Brockway, and all five moral case for climate action. But it’s also tect, and enhance the air quality for the were carted off to jail. a way to make a legal argument that the current and future generations.” The “Delta 5” protesters’ intent all government is failing to protect the public Such “atmospheric trust” cases — the along was to face a jury, Mazza says. They trust, DeChristopher says. “We think it’s brainchild of University of Oregon law hoped to be the first climate activists to the perfect platform to make the full case professor Mary C. Wood — seek to move mount a “necessity defense” in a U.S. court, for climate action.” policy, asking the courts to compel states arguing that their crime was necessary Judge Anthony Howard took a major to develop carbon emissions rules. Civil to prevent greater harm — in this case, step in even allowing the Delta 5 to pres- disobedience and necessity defenses seek potentially explosive oil trains traveling ent a necessity defense. Their lawyers to move the people — “to awaken the con- through Northwestern communities, and presented evidence and called expert science of a community,” as DeChristo- the climate-changing emissions that would witnesses who spoke of the imminent pher puts it. They play out in the court of be produced by burning that fossil fuel. and severe threat of climate change, the public opinion as well as in a court of law. Climate activist Tim DeChristopher health and safety risks of oil trains, the After the verdict, three jurors ap- had attempted a necessity defense in 2011 Northwest’s potential to become a major proached the defendants, expressing when he was tried for bidding on federal transportation corridor, and the activists’ regret that they couldn’t acquit on both oil and gas leases in Utah under false pre- past efforts to seek change through legal counts. Companies are trying to push tenses, but the judge disallowed it. Two means. dirty energy through Washington to make East Coast activists, Jay O’Hara and Ken In the end, though, Howard ruled they a quick buck while they can, said juror Joe Ward, also hoped to make the argument hadn’t proved that they had no reason- Lundheim, according to the Seattle alter- after blocking a coal tanker in Massachu- able legal avenues through which to effect native weekly, The Stranger. “I know this setts in 2013, but the prosecutor dropped change, and he instructed the jury that because I’ve been listening to this stuff all the charges. it could not acquit on necessity. The pro- week long, so thank you for that.” Another All three activists were on hand for testers were found guilty of trespass, but juror, Sue McGowan, said, “We don’t want the Delta 5 trial. Through their recently not guilty of obstructing a train on other the corridor.” launched Climate Disobedience Center, grounds. They each received two years of And so it appeared that the Delta 5 they had been helping the protesters pre- probation, four got $553 fines, and one a had at least some success. “We got to pres- pare since September. The center’s goal, $53 fine. ent the case,” says Patrick Mazza, the The necessity defense is just one un- only activist to defend himself in the trial. Contributing editor Cally Carswell writes from conventional strategy climate activists “We gained tremendous media attention. Santa Fe, New Mexico. @callycarswell are pursuing in court, and Washington That’s how you reach people.”

www.hcn.org High Country News 5 HWY Upper Medford 140 Dams that will not be removed Klamath Lake Dams that would be removed under the Klamath Falls OR Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement Hope for the CA John C. Boyle Dam Klamath River Keno HWY HWY 39 Basin? 97 Klamath River Landmark agreement unravels OR CA after decades of negotiations Copco Dams 1 and 2

BY PAIGE BLANKENBUEHLER Iron Gate Dam SOURCE: SALMON FOR SAVINGS; MAP: BROOKE WARREN/HCN

uring the 11 years that Greg But in December, Congress let the to the dams’ owner, PacifiCorp, and cap- D Addington worked on the land- deal’s cornerstone expire, and now water ping its cost for removal at $200 million. mark water deal known as the Klamath management in the Klamath Basin is at The third pact, the Upper Klamath Basin Agreements, he missed more meals than risk of reprising earlier conflicts. Conser- Comprehensive Agreement, secured water he could count and many of his children’s vative legislators primarily objected to to restore fisheries and protected the Klam- basketball games. “These agreements the prospect of dam removal, which ironi- ath Tribes’ water rights — but its funding were a major portion of my life,” says the cally enough is likely to happen anyway. largely came from the KBRA. Brian John- former head of the Klamath Water Users Meanwhile, the treaty’s unraveling son of Trout Unlimited, a signatory, says Association. “We spent a lot of time nego- jeopardizes the other provisions that Add- re-negotiation for those deals began Jan. 26. tiating, and formed friends and enemies. ington and many others fought so long Dam removal could still happen We watched people get married, get di- and hard for. Now, stakeholders are at- eventually, though, once PacifiCorp goes vorced, have children and die.” tempting to forge a new path. “We didn’t through the federal relicensing process. The Klamath Agreements were de- quite make it over the finish line, but The four Lower Klamath dams block fish signed to settle one of the West’s most in- what’s next?” says Addington. “No one is from spawning grounds, contribute to al- tractable water wars. For decades, farmers, sure what that looks like yet.” gae infestations, and provide just 2 per- fishermen, Indian tribes and environmen- cent of the utility’s power. tal groups battled over water in the Klam- ractures first appeared in 2014, when The Federal Energy Regulatory Com- ath River Basin, a 12,000-square-mile F Congress failed to approve the cen- mission will consider the cost of retrofit- swath of Northern California and southern tral pact, the Klamath Basin Restoration ting the aging dams to provide fish pas- Oregon. In 2001, the federal government Agreement (KBRA). Frustrated, the sage and comply with the Clean Water shut off farmers’ water to protect endan- Karuk, Yurok, Hoopa Valley and Klamath Act. The estimated bill is $460 million, gered coho salmon and suckers. The follow- tribes withdrew their support, and other according to the Department of Interior ing year, irrigators got their water, but a groups spoke out about the deal’s flaws. — far more expensive than removing the massive fish die-off followed. Without some “You don’t craft an agreement tying dam facilities ($290 million). “It’s an ancient compromise, the tug of war would continue. removal to a water deal, make it a billion project, and it’s not cost-effective to retro- So, starting in 2002, more than 50 dollars and think you will pass it,” says fit,” Schlosser says. “Removal is very likely stakeholders sat down to negotiate. Eight Jim McCarthy of WaterWatch, a conser- to happen, but the process can be slow.” arduous years later, they had a compre- vation group excluded from the final ne- hensive three-part agreement to remove gotiations. Nonetheless, the remaining 43 ome attempts to salvage the deals four dams in the Lower Klamath Basin signatories believed Congress would pass S have emerged. In December, Rep. Greg to help fish, ensure enough water for ir- the agreements if they had an extension Walden, R-Ore., who had earlier been will- rigators, secure lands and water rights for to the end of 2015. ing to support dam removal, introduced An algae bloom above tribal nations, and restore water quality The deal, which would have required a draft bill that didn’t include it. “It’s dis- Iron Gate Dam, part of PaciCorp’s Klamath — if Congress approved it. more than $500 million for restoration couraging,” says Klamath Tribes Chairman hydropower project. and tribal economic development, could Don Gentry. “The dams need to come out.” JIM MCCARTHY/COURTESY Paige Blankenbuehler is an HCN editorial fellow. have set a precedent for dam removal. But In January, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., intro- LIGHTHAWK @PaigeBlank in the Republican-dominated House, those duced a bill to implement all three pacts. aspects doomed it. “The KBRA was really But opponents call it a “non-starter” be- praised as this ‘kumbaya’ agreement, but cause it lacks funding for fish restoration. that never impressed Congress,” says Tom Now, without the pacts, there’s no fund- Schlosser, the Hoopa Valley Tribe’s attor- ing to carry out the provisions for tribal ney. “It was too ambitious and expensive.” fisheries, wildlife refuges or river restora- Its failure has had a ripple effect tion, and no legal mechanisms preventing on the two remaining Klamath agree- the Klamath Tribes from asserting their ments. Dam removal held together the senior water rights and shutting off irriga- key provisions — water for wildlife ref- tors’ water during drought periods. uges, minimum flows for irrigators, res- Ultimately, the fate of the Klamath toration of tribal fisheries. The tribes and Agreements portends difficulty for future environmental groups knew decommis- collaborative water deals. “I hope people sioning wouldn’t happen without guar- realize how important this agreement anteed water for farmers and ranchers. is — not just for southern Oregon and In turn, irrigators knew compromise Northern California, but for the world of couldn’t be reached without dam removal. water conflict management,” says Aaron The Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Wolf, Oregon State University professor Agreement would set the decommission- of water policy. “I hope politicians get the ing in motion, providing liability coverage message and can do the right thing.”

6 High Country News February 8, 2016 across the country, the Flat and its plenti- ful oak trees spread across a low, rugged Undermining the West plateau, punctuated by shallow, verdant canyons. Back in 1955, when Superior was Huge Arizona copper mining proposal isn’t a done deal still a bustling mining town, the Eisen- hower administration declared Oak Flat BY OSHA GRAY DAVIDSON off limits to mining, thus preserving, in perpetuity, one little piece of the ravaged o one would accuse John McCain of Cain and company spent years pushing copper triangle. That meant that the com- Wayne Hage, le, N being a “happy warrior.” But even for the swap, the project’s critics grew in pany couldn’t simply “claim” the land, as and his son Wayne by his standards, the senior senator from number and importance –– people like miners had been doing on federal land for N. Hage, in Nevada in 1999. COURTESY Arizona seemed unusually testy when he Roy Chavez, a third-generation miner more than a century. RAMONA HAGE MORRISON sat down before the Senate Committee on and former mayor of Superior, the town So, Resolution bought up some 5,300 Energy and Natural Resources on a chilly closest to the planned mega-project; the acres of land, most of it along the San February morning in 2012. nearby San Carlos Apache Tribe; and the Pedro River, to swap for approximately THE LATEST “If we show a little frustration,” he be- secretaries of Agriculture and the Interi- 2,400 acres of national forest land at Oak gan in a clipped voice, “I think it would or. They say the mine not only threatens a Flat, a deal that even some environmental Backstory may be understandable, because we have swath of sacred Indian land in the craggy groups reluctantly supported. The bill was Before Cliven Bundy, been at this issue for some time.” mountains an hour’s drive east of Phoe- first floated in Congress in 2005 by Rep. there was Wayne For seven years, in fact, McCain had nix, it sets a precedent that could be used Rick Renzi, R-Ariz., who was promptly Hage, a Nevada been trying to pass some version of the to nibble away at public lands throughout mired in a scandal involving — and there- rancher whose quarrel with the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and by killing — the swap bill. It would take the West. McCain’s tactics have left them federal government Conservation Act, which would swap fighting an uphill battle to, if not kill the almost a decade more, and a lot of politick- churned through the 2,422 acres of the Tonto National Forest mine, at least ensure that its impacts are ing, to get a bill passed, however sneakily courts for 21 years. to the Resolution Copper mining company mitigated. But they’re not giving up. it was done. Hage, an outspoken in exchange for a patchwork of privately “When we heard what McCain had According to a study commissioned critic of public- owned conservation lands. But despite his done,” says Chavez, “we went into fifth by Resolution, a subsidiary of the global land management, best efforts, McCain’s 2012 attempt failed, gear.” mining giants Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, held water rights too. when the mine is up and running it will predating federal Fast-forward three years. In December iscovered in 1995, the copper deposit create 3,700 well-paying jobs in an eco- ownership and 2014, McCain tried a different tactic: Dur- in question is the largest untapped nomically depressed region of the state, argued that he D therefore didn’t ing back-room negotiations, he buried the body of the essential metal in North pump $64 billion into the state’s economy, need grazing deal deep inside a 1,600-page, $500 billion America, capable of producing an estimat- add $20 billion in tax revenues and bolster permits. The Bureau “must pass” bill funding the United States ed 550,000 tons — as heavy as five Nimitz America’s natural resource independence. of Land Management military. The bill was then introduced Class aircraft carriers — annually for de- Given Superior’s high unemployment and Forest Service under a special agreement that prohib- cades. The ore body lies more than a mile rate and long history of mining, one might eventually sued over ited amendments. It passed with the land under the earth, near the northwest cor- expect universal local support for such a his trespassing cattle. swap included. ner of the state’s “copper triangle,” a region deal. And, in fact, many in Superior wel- Hage died in 2006, Now it’s the mine proposal’s oppo- scattered with both active and abandoned come the new mine. Other locals, however, but in 2012, District nents’ turn to be frustrated. Even as Mc- mines, most of them vast, open-pit scars. including some who once worked under- Judge Robert Jones found in favor of his The land directly atop the ore body ground, are adamantly opposed. Former estate, and cited two Osha Gray Davidson is a freelance writer and pho- is known as Oak Flat. Strewn with giant Mayor Chavez has spent a good deal federal officials for tographer in Phoenix, Arizona. @thephoenixsun boulders that draw rock climbers from of energy and time since the old mines contempt of court closed trying to build a new economy for (“One Sagebrush Superior, one based on tourism, amenities Rebellion flickers out and the like, and he worries that an enor- — or does it?” HCN, mous mine would scuttle those plans. Be- 9/12/12). sides, he predicts that the nature of mod-

ern mining means that few locals will be Followup hired. “Without a college degree,” Chavez In mid-January, the says, “you don’t stand a chance.” 9th Circuit Court of Resolution spokeswoman Jennifer Appeals overturned the 2012 victory, Russo has admitted that Chavez is prob- ruling that grazing ably right: The method that will be used permits are required requires robotics, not human labor. Other whether or not a opponents claim the mine’s economic ben- rancher owns water efits have been grossly inflated, with most rights. The three- of the tax revenues flowing out of the re- judge panel also gion and the state. Meanwhile, they point harshly criticized the out, local residents will be stuck with the judge who ruled in bills for the new roads, schools and the favor of Hage, for harboring “animus other infrastructure that giant projects toward the federal like this inevitably require. agencies.” Hage’s son, Historically, Superior’s mines used a Wayne Jr., told the Las technique called cut-and-fill. Resolution, Vegas Review-Journal, however, plans to extract the ore by blast- “It looks to me like ing it from below in a technique called the 9th Circuit just block caving. It’s not as visible as open- swelled the ranks of Sen. John McCain in the #10 sha, the deepest mine sha in the U.S. at 6,943 feet, which pit mining — the primary copper-mining the militias.” Resolution Copper dug on private land. COURTESY RESOLUTION COPPER Please see Mining, page 24 ELIZABETH SHOGREN

www.hcn.org High Country News 7 THE HCN COMMUNITY

RESEARCH FUND Thank you, Research Fund donors, for carrying on our tradition

Since 1971, reader contributions to the Re- John M. & Lynn G. Garberson | Potomac, MT search Fund have made it possible for HCN to investigate and report on important issues Linda Hamilton | Fort Collins, CO that are unique to the American West. Your Myron & Susan Hood | Los Osos, CA tax-deductible gift directly funds thought- Fran & William Irwin Charitable Trust | provoking, independent journalism. Bethesda, MD Thank you for supporting our hardworking Lynne Nemeth | Flagstaff, AZ journalists. Sara Ransford, The Arches Foundation | Aspen, CO Meg & Justin Stevenson | Hailey, ID Kathy Knapp, owner of Pie-O-Neer John & Tamera Stone | Seattle, WA INDEPENDENT MEDIA GUARDIAN Cafe, displays a pie. ARTHUR DROOKER Elizabeth T. Kirkpatrick | Denver, CO Mark Winne | Santa Fe, NM

8 High Country News February 8, 2016 DEAR FRIENDS

PIE TOWN REVISITED By Arthur Drooker 160 pages, softcover, $34.95 Fresh faces and fresh powder University of New Mexico Press, 2015 Over the past month, we’ve attended Minnesota’s Carleton During the Great Depression, Farm Security finally received our fair share College, where he wrote for the Administration photographer Russell Lee of snowfall in Paonia, Colorado, college newspaper under an detoured off a desolate stretch of U.S. 60 in and along with it welcomed anagram pen name, Cy Grear- New Mexico to visit a place called Pie Town our new interns, Lyndsey Gilpin by. A cross-country road trip — so named for its famous baked goods. In and Bryce Gray. They’ll begin in 2011 got him hooked on the striking Kodachrome color, he documented nearly six months of reporting, West. That fall, Bryce bought the lives of the 200 or so homesteaders who had fled the Great Plains Dust Bowl and (assuming we let them out a motor scooter and rode from to resettle in this high-desert community. of the office) they might even Boston to Berkeley, Califor- Inspired by Lee, photographer Arthur squeeze in a few outdoor adven- nia. In 2012, Bryce moved to Drooker made his own pilgrimage there 70 tures here on the edge of the Polson, Montana, to report for years later. In Pie Town Revisited, Drooker West Elk Mountains. the Lake County Leader, which writes, “Lee had said that he was ‘taking Despite brief journalistic he eventually edited. There, he pictures of the history of tomorrow.’ In stints in Chicago and Los Ange- wrote about small-town life, following his footsteps, I endeavored to do les, Lyndsey, 25, is a Kentuck- the environment and, at least the same thing.” With photos of abandoned ian through and through, born, once, the legendary Flathead ranches and homesteads, women and men raised, educated and later em- Lake Monster, Nessie’s long- holding Lee’s portraits of their parents, and of course, trays of colorful pies, Drooker ployed in Louisville. Her family lost American cousin. He also juxtaposes the past and present of this ties to eastern Kentucky’s coal- attended Medill, where he A Depression Era family eats dinner in humble place and the people who chose to mining communities helped reported extensively on climate their dugout house. RUSSELL LEE/FSA make it their home. LYNDSEY GILPIN foster her awareness of envi- science, locally in Chicago and ronmental and economic issues abroad in Greenland. Bryce from an early age. graduated in fall 2015 and came She brought that inter- to intern at HCN sans scooter. Carole Counihan | Lancaster, PA Andrea Krumhardt & Jon Kostohrys | est with her to the University “I’m really excited to return to Dick Cumiskey | Monroe, UT Fairbanks, AK of Louisville, where she worked a small town in the West, this James D’Emilio | Flagstaff, AZ Steven Lee | Clarkston, WA for the student newspaper and time with the opportunity to Jim Dalgleish | Bountiful, UT Dana Lobell | Brooklyn, NY regional publications and vol- focus more exclusively on the Charles Dekeado & Shari Fox | Applegate, OR Patricia MacMillan | Englewood, CO unteered with a group opposed stories that make the region Patrick Desmond | Tucson, AZ Joanne Magalis | Los Lunas, NM to mountaintop-removal coal unique and important,” he says. Gary L. Dixon | Blackfoot, ID Craig Markham | Dundee, OR mining. Seeking to merge her January’s visitors were Bruce Driver & Charlene Dougherty | Wayne Martinson | Salt Lake City, UT conservationist and journalis- scarce, but Wayne “Wano” Urbo- Boulder, CO Kay McAllister | Bozeman, MT tic interests, Lyndsey enrolled nas stopped in for a tour all the Guy Durrant | Manila, UT Valyn Metropoulos | Aberdeen, WA at Northwestern University’s way from Maui, Hawaii. Wano Gregory Durrett | Glenwood Springs, CO Davide C. Migliaccio | Colorado Springs, CO Medill School of Journalism in grew up on Colorado’s Western Bob & JoAnn Elmore | Forestville, CA Marilyn & Robert Milhous | Fort Collins, CO Chicago to focus on environ- Slope, spent part of his life as George Epp | Boulder, CO Andrew Minsk | Davis, CA mental reporting. “I would go a “ski bum in Telluride” and Bob A. Erickson | Nevada City, CA Angel Montoya | Las Cruces, NM to Chicago, and people didn’t recently interviewed for a job at Audrey D. Evans | Norco, CA Mel Mooers | Victor, MT even know what mountaintop Citizens for a Healthy Commu- Frederick Fornelius | Salt Lake City, UT Linda Morgan | Spokane Valley, WA removal was,” she says. “That’s nity, an environmental organi- Paul Frank & Anne Clare Erickson | Moab, UT Madeleine & Thomas Nash | San Francisco, CA what made me mad and made zation in Paonia. He hopes to Kathryn Gaffney & Matthew Thompson | Maria Nemethy | Salt Lake City, UT me want to communicate it to return to the land-locked West Corte Madera, CA Sue Orlaske & Mitch Wolgamott | the rest of the country.” Since before too long. Thanks for stop- Bill Gardner | Forest Ranch, CA Summerville, OR graduating in 2013, Lyndsey ping by, Wano! Jarrod Gasper | Boulder, CO Laila Parker | Boston, MA has covered renewable energy Finally, a small correction. A John Gastineau | Portland, OR Glen Phelps | Gypsum, CO and the tech industry’s intersec- recent “Heard Around the West” Eric L. & Diane Gay | Ann Arbor, MI D. Pooley | Redding, CA tion with the environmental (1/25/16) worried over cars hit- Helen George | Coarsegold, CA Stuart Preece | Layton, UT movement, most recently as a ting two-ton cows, way too big Gary & Eleanor Gossen | Santa Fe, NM Steve Ralph | Winthrop, WA freelancer based in Los Angeles. for biological reality. Most cows Catherine Hansen-Stamp | Golden, CO Luis & Lisa Ramos Toro | Denver, CO Bryce, 27, was born in Ann would be between 1,300 and Ron Hartmann | Fort Collins, CO Gary & Kathy Reynolds | Dayton, WY Arbor, Michigan, and lived 2,200 pounds, or about one ton. J. Paul Heffron | Boulder, CO Gary Rivedal | Woodland Park, CO in North Carolina, Ohio and —Paige Blankenbuehler Ludwig Heier | Cameron Park, CA Bill Ross | Louisville, CO Voorheesville, New York. He for the staff Melinda M. Henry | Frisco, CO Rob Russell | Quincy, CA Vicki Hofacket | Deming, NM Sherry Schenk | Grand Junction, CO John Hoffman | Sonoita, AZ Paul Schlichting | Redondo Beach, CA Tim & Gwen Holmen | Reno, NV Kieth E. Severson | Isle, MN Laura Hubbard | Hailey, ID Dan & Denise Snow | Divide, CO Barbara J. Hughes | Steamboat Springs, CO Greg & Diane Soave | Fowlerville, MI Ian A. Jackson | Pinetop, AZ Richmond & Sarah Thomason | Chelsea, MI Kathy Jacobs | Tucson, AZ Tommy Tomlin | Las Cruces, NM Hugh Jameson | El Paso, TX Stephen Verkamp | Flagstaff, AZ Sandford Jaques III | Kingsville, TX Peter J. Ware | Carbondale, CO Samuel Kempton | Palo Alto, CA Websters Grove | Kingston, NH Linda Kervin | Logan, UT John E. & Nancy Wilbrecht | Jackson, WY Frank Kinder | Colorado Springs, CO Colleen Wilford | Truckee, CA Rob Kirkwood | Olympia, WA Linda Zarzana | Sacramento, CA New interns Bryce Gray and Lyndsey Gilpin take a break to play in the JoAnne Knoebel | Tucson, AZ snow. BROOKE WARREN www.hcn.org High Country News 9 FEATURE | BY TAY WILES

Inside the Sagebrush Insurgency Showdown The Sagebrush Rebellion has at Sugar Pine been brewing for decades, but as the standoff in eastern How the Oath Keepers turned Oregon demonstrates, the a small-time mining dispute West is facing something into a major Sagebrush Insurgency event different now. Amid the rise of the ultra-right, and in the

wake of a major recession, the anny Vanderschelden, caretaker manmade clearing, a residence, poured anti-federal movement has for the Sugar Pine Mine in concrete, a recently buried water pipe southern Oregon’s Josephine system and several trailers — none of become a boiling cauldron of County, was inside his camper which had been approved by the BLM. Dlast January when he heard vehicles Two months later, in early April, a old ideologies, new politics, rumbling down the dirt road to the BLM law enforcement officer and a sher- property. Two men on four-wheelers were iff’s deputy had visited the Sugar Pine and a whole lot of guns. headed toward one of the claims he was property to hand-deliver a letter to the Welcome to the guarding, paying no heed to the locked mine’s owners, Rick Barclay and George gates and “no trespassing” signs. Backes. The agency offered three options: Sagebrush Insurgency. Vanderschelden, a boyish 23-year-old Cease mining; file a plan of operations with close-cropped hair and a shadow of to account for the level of surface activ- a beard, became acutely aware of how ity; file an appeal — or else. The “or else” alone he was, several miles into the in this case, local BLM spokesman Jim deeply wooded hills. He had had equip- Whittington admits, would have probably Showdown at Sugar Pine ment stolen before, and he’d heard tales just amounted to more letters, possibly of “environmental terrorists” wreaking for years to come. havoc in timber country, so he didn’t want The miners, however, saw the letter Finding Common Cause to take any chances. He drove his vehicle as a direct threat — an infringement on Where a sprawling network just up the hill to block the exit. their constitutional right to due process Page 16 When the visitors returned, they — and a call to arms. of actors connects stopped their ATVs on the dirt slope and Days later, Backes and Barclay stood These ain’t your daddy’s faced the watchman in the crisp, cool air. up in a meeting of about 40 people at “Who are you, and what are you doing the Josephine County Fairgrounds and Sagebrush Rebels Page 17 on my property?” Vanderschelden asked asked for help. The audience was made sternly, holding an unloaded pistol in his up of members of the Josephine County Sagebrush Sheriffs Page 18 hand. chapter of the Oath Keepers, a militant The men, who were not wearing uni- national “Patriot” group whose members How rural peace ofﬁcers are forms, explained that they were with the have shown up on behalf of folks rang- joining the radical right’s war Bureau of Land Management and showed ing from Clark County, Nevada, rancher the caretaker their IDs. They were part of Cliven Bundy, to a Kentucky county clerk against the feds the agency’s archaeology and abandoned who refused to issue gay marriage li- mines team, documenting historic mines. censes. Members of the local chapter had Arms Race on the Range Vanderschelden relaxed. been at the Bundy standoff 12 months “Sorry for the pistol,” he said, putting earlier, and the energy from the event — Page 22 the firearm in his pocket. a victory of sorts for the Oath Keepers — The BLM is more armed than “What is this, the 1800s, when you still percolated through the ranks. approach people with guns in your After the miners spoke, Rice called for ever, but it’s still outgunned hand?” Vanderschelden remembers one an informal vote: Should the local Oath of the men asking. In some ways, in fact, Keepers help Backes and Barclay defend WEB EXTRA this remote, hardscrabble region hasn’t their property rights against the feds? changed all that much since the late 19th The room overwhelmingly voted yes. With For more of HCN’s extensive current century: Most of the area’s mining opera- that, Operation Gold Rush was ignited, and archived coverage of the Sagebrush tions remain small-scale, entrepreneurial becoming what was the latest flare-up Rebellion, see hcn.org/topics/ affairs under the auspices of local mining in a new generation of the decades-old sagebrush-rebellion districts, just as most were when gold Sagebrush Rebellion. It was sparked in was discovered in Oregon in the 1850s. an economically depressed, independent- On the unpatented Sugar Pine claims, spirited rural county that was ripe for an the archaeologists discovered a large insurgency.

10 High Country News February 8, 2016 Pullout goes here quay sans medium 14/18 aligned toward spine —Tag

ON MAY 30, 2012, DOZENS OF PRISONERS ’80s and was exacerbated by resentment property taxes — the lowest in Oregon Armed walked freely out of the Josephine Coun- of the forest plan. Young men could once — to improve public safety and bolster militiamen stand ty jail in Grants Pass, the county seat, not count on a logging job as soon as they flagging coffers. Nine of those attempts guard at the because of a mass pardon or jailbreak, graduated from high school; now jobs are have been shot down, largely by libertari- Sugar Pine Mine but simply because of a budget crunch. few, and as of October, the unemployment an-leaning rural voters. in Josephine County, Oregon, The county’s expenditures for public rate was over 7 percent. Though voters in 2012 again voted last April as part safety, which includes law enforcement, But roots of the local budget woes down a property tax increase that could of what Josephine had been slashed by more than half. Not were actually more complex. Rural have ameliorated some of the pain, many County Oath only could the sheriff’s department not Oregon, which had found some relief in residents felt victimized by forces beyond Keepers called afford to house so many prisoners, it the increased timber demand during the their control and decisions made by Operation Gold couldn’t even chase after new criminals. early 2000s housing boom, was hit harder politicians on the other side of the nation. Rush. The Oath Where more than 30 deputies once pa- by the ensuing housing bust and reces- Between 2008 and 2014, the percentage Keepers’ goal trolled the sprawling county, population sion that began in Dec. 2007 than almost of local voters registering as unaffiliated was to defend the 83,600, there were only six. (Today, there anywhere else in the nation. Problems more than doubled, a sign of discontent constitutional rights of miners are three or four on any given day.) Crime were compounded by Congress’ failure to with both major political parties. Out George Backes — or at least the fear of it — became so reliably fund the Secure Rural Schools of the re-opened wounds of the timber and Rick Barclay bad that Hollywood television producers Act, federal monies paid to timber coun- wars of the 1990s emerged right-wing who had been wanted to film a reality show here. ties from 2000 on to replace lost timber groups to resist the feds, including a ordered to file Then-Sheriff Gil Gilbertson blamed revenue. “It’s like a never-ending cycle of strong contingent of Tea Partiers and new paperwork or the financial woes on the decline of doom,” says County Commissioner Simon self-proclaimed Patriots. A conifer-tinged stop mining their the timber industry. Some blamed that Hare. “It’s so stressful. We have to lay off Sagebrush Rebellion was forming, and claim on BLM decline on the Clinton administration’s people. Then, if we’re lucky, we take back near the center of it was Sheriff Gilbert- land. 1994 Northwest Forest Plan, which the pink slips” when the federal pay- son, who threatened to breach gates put JIM URQUHART/REUTERS preserved much of the federal old growth ments finally come through. up by the BLM and U.S. Forest Service. in Oregon, Washington and Northern Then there’s Josephine County’s tax Josephine County was not alone. Fol- California to protect the northern spotted problem. When timber revenues were at lowing the election of President Barack owl. Josephine County once had 22 saw- their peak, there was no need for prop- Obama in 2008, the number of Patriot mills; now it has only two. At one time, erty taxes. The residents generally want groups — which can range from curious southwest Oregon was politically moder- to keep it that way, despite the budget libertarians looking for a cause to sover- ate; later, it swung sharply to the right, crunch. Since 1998, the county govern- eign citizens evading taxes and “survival- part of a larger shift that began in the ment has tried 11 times to increase ists” preparing for the apocalypse — ex-

www.hcn.org High Country News 11 Sheriff’s deputies respond to a call in Josephine County, Oregon, where budget cuts have reduced the patrol staff from more than 30 to three or four at a time. Joseph Rice, below, started the Josephine County Oath Keepers, whose members pledge to fulfill the oath all military and police take to “defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” BROOKE WARREN

ploded nationwide and increased five-fold promise to defend the general citizenry in Oregon. One of those groups was the from martial law, gun confiscation, or Josephine County Oath Keepers. being tossed into concentration camps — should the federal government ever at- MORE THAN HALF OF JOSEPHINE COUNTY’S tempt such actions. Members are largely residents live outside Grants Pass in vil- white and male, but each brings his own lages like Cave Junction or Williams, or shade of right-wing beliefs, which allows tucked away in the woods, in an undu- for wider ranks. Rice says he is not “anti- lating landscape of pine and madrone fed,” for example; his wife works for the forests parched by four years of drought. Forest Service. When I visited last fall, I met the head of Rice liked what he saw on the website the local Oath Keepers, Joseph Rice. He and paid $40 for a membership. A few told me his story at Rogue Coffee Roast- months later, he received an email from ers, a bustling hangout in Grants Pass. the southern Oregon Oath Keepers Rice, an easy-going 52-year-old former coordinator, who suggested he start a National Guardsman and Department of county chapter. Rice organized a small Defense contractor in the Middle East, meeting in 2012 at Papa’s Cafe & BBQ was in Grants Pass in 2012, recovering in Grants Pass. Three others attended, from an ankle that was broken in Afghan- including then-Sheriff Gilbertson. They istan. An amateur constitutional scholar, all shared the sense that they and their he was frustrated by what he saw as the fellow citizens were being mistreated by attack on civil liberties concealed in the the government — local, state and espe- Patriot Act and other federal measures cially federal. At the next meeting several put in place in response to the attacks of weeks later, 30 people showed up, filling 9/11. One day, while surfing the Web, he the restaurant. “That signaled to me the came across something that changed his frustration within Josephine County for life: The Oath Keepers’ site. the way things were going in the county The Oath Keepers organization was government,” Rice says. founded in 2009 by Stewart Rhodes, The group was more than just a place a lawyer and Yale graduate who had to vent frustration; it also found purpose worked as a legislative aid to former in filling the vacuum left by the law Texas congressman and Republican enforcement budget cuts. Leaders of the presidential candidate Ron Paul. The county chapter have trained residents group describes itself as an association to operate ham radios and otherwise for former and current military and law prepare for a major crisis, such as the enforcement eager to uphold their oaths overdue earthquake that scientists expect to protect the U.S. Constitution. (“Patriot- to rip through the Pacific Northwest in ic citizens” who have not been in uniform the not-too distant future. Members have can obtain associate memberships.) They yet to explicitly take on the role of vigi-

12 High Country News February 8, 2016 lantes, but they believe their background close ties with the Constitutional Sheriffs and firearms experience brings a sense of and Peace Officers Association (see story security to a county where law enforce- page 18). Former Sheriff Gilbertson is an ment has been whittled away to almost Oath Keeper and a member of CSPOA, as nothing. well as a member of the Pacific Patriots Josephine County Oath Keepers Network, a newer coalition of militia also volunteered for community service, groups that would become prominent at painting houses, building a handicap the 2016 Malheur National Wildlife Oc- playground and constructing wheelchair cupation in Oregon. ramps for elderly or infirm residents. These events — the levies, the com- These activities made the Oath Keepers munity service, the nuisance ordinances, a positive force in the community and, the preparedness teams, and the law simultaneously, textbook insurgents: enforcement vacuum — all that helped Whether they deliberately set out to do JoCo Oath Keepers establish roots. “This so or not, the local chapter was winning was a perfect storm over the last eight the hearts and minds of many locals, to 10 years,” Rice says of his chapter co- while also undermining government au- alescing. Then, in early 2015, rumblings thorities. Oath Keeper members were key began building for a new battle that participants in an effort to recall a county would dwarf the others and catapult the commissioner (the first Democrat elected local chapter into the national limelight: in over 20 years); later, they appeared at the Sugar Pine Mine. anti-gun control rallies and urged their sheriff to disregard state gun laws. Many LAST APRIL 11 — around the first anni- believe the federal government should versary of the Bundy Ranch standoff — not manage public lands. Rice put out a national call to action for When the local Oath Keepers first Operation Gold Rush, asking members tackled political issues, they started and other Patriots to help the Sugar Pine small, targeting poorly written county or- miners fight the BLM. The miners and dinances that gave government employ- Rice said they feared the feds would burn ees too much leeway in deciding punish- their property and steal their equipment. ment for public nuisance infractions, such Three Percent of Idaho — a right-wing as storing sewage or hazardous waste militia group founded in 2008 with chap- on their property. The group saw such ters across the country — put out their ordinances as a direct affront to constitu- own press releases about the security tional rights and an issue to rally around. operation, and militia-types from Arizona “That’s, I think, why they joined Oath posted a YouTube video of themselves the miners and their allies but, as he told Josephine County Keepers,” Rice says of the first wave of driving to Oregon. Local blogger Dale me in an interview last October, “I was Sheri Dave Daniel local members. “It was: ‘How can we have Matthews released a video, repeatedly (concerned) in that there were militia, has acted as a commissioners so out of touch?’ ” calling the escalating situation “Bundy- Three Percenters and Oath Keepers mediator in recent Last spring, the county again floated like” and saying “there are people spoil- from around the country that had come disputes, unlike his predecessor, Gil a property tax increase. Rice opposed ing for a fight.” in and were potentially unpredictable. Gilbertson, who it, arguing that serious crime was not a It was impossible to tell how many Mr. Rice will tell you that everyone was sided with miners problem and the tax wasn’t needed. Sher- people were actually coming. The JoCo vetted properly. I have a difficult time in disputes with the iff Dave Daniel differs, citing more recent, Oath Keepers’ former public information believing that 100 percent of the people federal government. yet very localized, statistics showing that officer, Mary Emerick, told me at least were cleared or were 100 percent control- BROOKE WARREN crime rates have quadrupled in the past 700 volunteers passed through over the lable.” A year earlier, a Las Vegas couple few years. Still, voters once again shot course of several weeks. An Oath Keepers shot and killed two police officers and down the levy, and the public safety and associate involved in the operation just a citizen after spending time support- law enforcement budget remains about a shook his head and said quietly to me, ing Cliven Bundy at the encampment in third of what it was in 2009. “You don’t need to know that.” Nevada. The shooters draped one of the Josephine County Oath Keepers A local firearms training center spoke slain officers in a Gadsden flag with the gained a steady following and an email with Rice and agreed to provide hidden “Don’t Tread on Me” symbol and left a list that now numbers 300. The group has muscle for Operation Gold Rush, and the swastika pin on him. started a youth program that features group was ready to mobilize its network For its part, the BLM wasn’t entirely firearm training, and it has its own float of combat-savvy individuals to back up unprepared for trouble; some of the staff- in the local Boatnik Parade, which Coun- the miners, if need be. ers remembered the timber wars of the ty Commissioner Keith Heck has ridden “It was a situation in my county 1990s. Sugar Pine, though, was differ- on for the past two years. A Grants Pass that could have been” — Sheriff Daniel ent. “(With the timber wars), there was city councilman, Roy Lindsay, is the paused to find the right word — “un- always an area of understanding; you treasurer of the Oath Keepers chapter. peaceful.” Daniel is a tall, sturdy 46-year- could at least agree on little things,” says The chapter had no Facebook page for its old from Portland with degrees in com- the BLM’s Jim Whittington. “With these first couple of years; instead, organizing munications and management and many guys, we just can’t connect. Mining is efforts spread by word of mouth, email years’ experience in law enforcement. confusing to begin with, so when you add and other members’ social media. Though he is politically conservative, he emotion. … There is no middle ground By 2013, the national organization did not take sides in the dispute (in sharp with this stuff.” had made a name for itself, with a report- contrast to his predecessor, Gilbertson, During Operation Gold Rush, an ed 30,000 paid-up members nationwide. who usually sided with miners and has email from a district manager noted that Rhodes had dispatched speakers to ad- an antagonistic relationship with the the amount of staff time going toward the minister the oath to “defend” the Consti- federal land agencies). Daniel helped Sugar Pine Mine events was delaying oth- tution at more than 30 Tea Party rallies mediate much of the dispute, and was in er important work. The agency released across the country. A handful of politi- regular communication with the Oath generic statements about the situation, cians showed their support by appearing Keepers, BLM and county commissioners. trying to stay above the fray. Employees at gun-rights rallies or events the group The sheriff wasn’t worried about a were required to avoid the Sugar Pine co-sponsored. Oath Keepers developed clash between federal authorities and Mine area for safety reasons, and to travel

www.hcn.org High Country News 13 Josephine County Oath Keepers Joseph Rice and Rob Lee, below, install a wheelchair ramp for a paralyzed man, one of eight such projects the group completed last year. At right, Pat Fitzsimmons, another Josephine County Oath Keeper, stands guard at the military recruitment and training center in Grants Pass, Oregon. He started his daily guard in July, aer four Marines were killed by a gunman at a military recruitment center in Chattanooga, Tennessee. BROOKE WARREN

Pullout goes here quay sans medium 14/18 aligned toward spine —Tag

Deﬁnitions in pairs while in the field. One BLM staff- standoff, yet calls for more volunteers, The response from Josephine County 1872 General Mining er, who received anonymous email threats combined with incendiary rhetoric, con- itself was mixed, though a significant Law Permits citizens and believes he was followed home once, tinued for weeks. The conservative Next number of locals felt intimidated by the to stake mining claims temporarily moved his family out of their News Network released a video, saying, new presence in town. County Commis- on public land, thereby home. Sugar Pine miner Barclay was “Your very presence may in fact save lives sioner Cherryl Walker fielded phone calls giving them the right to quoted in a local paper, asking support- and prevent this from being the spark from concerned residents who noticed an develop underground ers to “please stop calling the BLM and triggering the next American Civil War. unusual number of out-of-towners openly minerals, though not threatening their personnel.” … The BLM has a history of burning carrying firearms. Folks were unsettled, exclusive surface rights. The sheriff wanted to protect the down cabins with residents inside.” Walker says, because “it was an armed Patented mining claim miners’ rights, despite his reservations The narrative inspired dozens of sup- presence of people not under command A mineral patent usually about the influx of outsiders. He believed porters to make donations to the Opera- of any official organization.” One ad hoc provides title to both the miners were already on a course to tion Gold Rush PayPal account and even group of locals, Together for Josephine, surface and subsurface rights, essentially making victory: “Because their fight was for due drive to Oregon themselves. Many of the held a press conference on the steps of once-public land private. process, and due process was happen- self-described Patriots came to fulfill the courthouse to voice their discomfort In 1994, Congress ing from the very beginning, they were their own vision of patriotism, which with the newcomers. imposed a moratorium fighting for a cause that was already may have had little to do with mining or To some, the end of Operation Gold on new patents for claims happening.” On April 22, the miners filed other natural resource regulations. At the Rush came as anti-climatic. There was no on BLM land, which it an appeal to the BLM’s finding of non- staging area near Grants Pass — a gravel dramatic standoff, as there was at Bundy has maintained to this compliance. parking lot with a welcome table, tents Ranch a year earlier. In May, the Interior day. and trailers — the mood was either sober Board of Land Appeals allowed the min- Surface Resources Act OUTSIDE THE MEDFORD BLM OFFICE on and calm, or chaotic and exciting, depend- ers to stay on the claims until the board of 1955 This law allows April 23, 2015, Rice stood on the edge of ing on whom you ask. had a chance to make a decision. Backes the federal government an open tailgate, microphone in hand, During the month after the call to and Barclay maintain that they have the to manage claims ﬁled a copy of the Constitution in his breast action, Oath Keepers and their associ- right to develop the un-patented claims after 1955 for uses pocket, and lectured a crowd of dozens of ates released what appear to be multiple as they wish under the 1872 General other than mineral supporters, reporters and observers. “We development, such as misleading statements. One indicated Mining Law. The BLM says that because hunting and hiking. have a cultural issue with the Bureau of that the BLM had brought in additional the claim was temporarily ceded in 1963, Land Management, where they believe “armed security contractors” to deal with it should be regulated under the 1955 their rules and their administration is Operation Gold Rush. That turned out to Surface Resources Act. But even if the more important than following the law of be a group holding a lunchtime going- claim is grandfathered into the older law, the land, the United States Constitution,” away party for a BLM employee at a local the agency says the amount of surface ac- he said. “If they had given these two pizza joint. When a helicopter was spot- tivity at Sugar Pine requires the miners gentlemen their day in court, we would ted near the Sugar Pine Mine area that to file a notice or plan of operations. not be here. … Today, it’s the Sugar Pine week, the Oath Keepers warned that the The miners and their allies saw the Mine; where is it going to be next?” BLM was planning a raid at the mine. board’s ruling as a victory, and Rice Emerick and Rice had told the media But it was a private helicopter, unrelated ordered a stand-down. “BLM has been they did not want another Bundy-like to the events on the ground. conducting itself lawlessly without fear

14 High Country News February 8, 2016 George Backes pushes an ore bucket into the lower adit of Sugar Pine Mine in Josephine County, Oregon, where Oath Keepers set up camp last April to support the miners in their dispute with the Bureau of Land Management. BROOKE WARREN

of accountability,” Rice wrote. “Operation insurgents West-wide. In Montana last ert “LaVoy” Finicum was shot and killed Definitions Gold Rush has changed that.” The Oath year, after the federal government sued during a confrontation with Oregon State Plan of operations Keepers, Three Percenters and other sup- two miners for shirking regulations, sev- Police and the FBI near Burns, Oregon. The Sugar Pine miners porters headed home. eral JoCo Oath Keepers became closely More lasting local impacts of Sugar argue that because involved, traveling there or supporting Pine remain to be seen. The BLM’s Whit- their claim was filed ON A WARM AFTERNOON LAST FALL, with the defendants from afar. Rice, also a co- tington and the national BLM office say before 1955 and has the sun hanging low over the dark, founder of the Pacific Patriots Network, Sugar Pine didn’t permanently change been under continuous woodsy landscape, George Backes, the which includes the Oath Keepers, Three any major agency protocols. Some locals ownership since then, 71-year-old co-owner of the Sugar Pine Percenters and the Oregon Constitutional want Rice to run for county commissioner they aren’t required to file a plan of operations Mine, sat at a picnic table outside his Guard, helped spread the word to bring — chapter membership grew during Op- or adhere to modern modest home near Grants Pass while his Patriots to Burns, Oregon, in January to eration Gold Rush — while others believe environmental laws. This wife cooked dinner inside. I asked him protest the re-sentencing of ranchers Ste- that the group tarnished its image with stance has been widely about his dispute with the BLM, and he ven and Dwight Hammond. Rice quickly the show of force. At the national level, refuted by legal experts. smiled. Like most of the owners of the became central to negotiations during the Oath Keepers spokesman Jason Van The BLM requires a plan 1,100 or so mining claims in the local Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occu- Tatenhove calls the JoCo chapter a “flag- or notice for any mine districts, Backes seems like a regular guy, pation, which grew out of that protest. ship” for the organization. activity above “casual an entrepreneur trying to make some Whether it’s the Bundy Ranch stand- In November, long after the dust had use,” such as gold- money from mining his property. But his off, Operation Gold Rush, or the Malheur settled, Rice received a call from a miner panning. Federal officials are required to apply individual skirmish with bureaucrats had occupation, today’s Sagebrush Insurgen- in the southern part of Josephine County. current environmental become part of a national war. “We’re go- cies are “radicalization nodes,” as Daryl The BLM was cutting down trees and regulations to any mining ing into the big times,” he said. Johnson, a domestic terrorism expert and putting them in the creek, he said — claim, including those From his perspective, he and Opera- former Department of Homeland Secu- encroaching on his mining turf, the “It’s filed before 1955. tion Gold Rush had won this particular rity employee, describes them. At each All Mine” claim. Would Rice visit him to battle, and he believed that he had a new gathering, far-flung Patriots forge talk about it, and would the Oath Keepers strong administrative case against the new relationships, and new recruits are be able to stand by in case things got out feds. Whether or not the Interior board drawn into the movement. At a meeting of hand? Rice said yes, of course. He had will favor the Sugar Pine miners (it usu- of ranchers in Utah last fall, the head sworn an oath, and he aimed to keep it. ally sides with the BLM in these types of Arizona’s branch of the White Moun- of disputes), they already had hit it big. tain Militia, Cope Reynolds, encouraged During the previous two Sagebrush Rebel- ranchers to refuse to pay their grazing Tay Wiles is the online Reporting for this lions, in the 1970s and ’90s, Backes’ plight fees and offered his group’s services to editor of High Country story was supported . She is based in might not have been noticed outside the ward off federal overreach. News by a grant from the Paonia, Colorado. Fund for Investigative local community. But today’s Sagebrush Another participant in that meeting @taywiles Journalism. Insurgency quickly mobilized supporters who encouraged ranchers to stop paying from across the country and turned Sugar fees became the first fatality in the new Pine into a national rallying point. Sagebrush Insurgency. On Jan. 26, Ari- Sugar Pine invigorated sagebrush zona resident and Malheur occupier Rob-

www.hcn.org High Country News 15 Finding Common Cause Where a sprawling network of actors connects

Agenda 21 conspiracy Constitutional Sheriffs ORGANIZATIONS AND MOVEMENTS Three Percent: theorists believe that a and Peace Officers Oath Keepers: A militia Pacific Patriots An antigovernment group non-binding U.N. resolution Association members Land Transfer composed of veterans and Network: A coalition of organized around the promoting sustainable believe sheriffs hold greater Movement adherents paramilitary who vow not Pacific Northwest militias dubious claim that 3 development is a secret law enforcement authority believe that federal public to abide by laws or federal that includes the Three percent of Americans were plan to create a one-world than their federal lands should be transferred regulations they deem Percenters, Oath Keepers combatants in the government. counterparts. to the states. unconstitutional. and other smaller groups. Revolutionary War.

Brenda Barton supports State representative, AZ attended Ammon Bundy Businessman, AZ Cliven Bundy Rancher, NV member Ryan Bundy Melon farmer, NV Jim Chmelik County commissioner, ID Jennifer Fielder State representative, MT Robert “LaVoy” Finicum Rancher, foster parent, AZ Michele Fiore Assemblywoman, NV Gil Gilbertson Former sheriff, OR

PEOPLE Ken Ivory State representative, UT Kent Lambert State representative, CO Jon Lopey Sheriff, CA Phil Lyman County commissioner, UT Richard Mack CSPOA founder, AZ Ryan Payne Electrician, MT Stewart Rhodes Oath Keepers founder, NV Joseph Rice Aviation consultant, OR

Heather Scott State representative, ID Matt Shea State representative, WA Bob Thorpe State representative, AZ Carl Wilson

State representative, OR WARREN | GRAPHIC: BROOKE AND HCN STAFF REPORTING: SARAH TORY

CSPOA Conference Bundy Ranch Standoff Recapture Canyon Sugar Pine Mine White Hope Mine Idaho “Gun Grab” Burns Protest/ Las Vegas, NV Clark County, NV San Juan County, UT Josephine County, OR Lewis and Clark Priest River, ID Malheur Occupation September 2012 April 2014 May 2014 April 2015 County, MT August 2015 Harney County, OR Constitutional sheriffs first A 20-year legal dispute An ATV ride on closed A dispute between August 2015 After the Department of January 2016 met in January and between the BLM and trails in southeast Utah to militia-supported gold A dispute between Veterans Affairs declared An armed group of September, featuring Cliven Bundy over unpaid protest alleged overreach miners and the BLM over militia-supported miners a Vietnam veteran anti-government activists prominent Tea Partiers grazing fees on federally by federal agencies. southwestern Oregon in western Montana and mentally incompetent, seized control of the as speakers. owned land developed mining claims. the Forest Service over more than 100 protesters Malheur National Wildlife into an armed mining claims. gathered in support of Refuge, near Burns, 16 High Country News February 8, 2016 confrontation. his gun-ownership rights. Oregon, where other EVENTS militia gathered. The Sagebrush Insurgency has not fully Finding Common Cause resolved into a single movement. It is These ain’t your daddy’s Sagebrush Rebels currently more s the armed occupation in Oregon’s akin to an Agenda 21conspiracy Constitutional Sheriffs ORGANIZATIONS AND MOVEMENTS Three Percent: support the extremists and try to push Nevada Assemblywoman Michele Fiore, theorists believe that a and Peace Officers Oath Keepers: A militia Pacific Patriots An antigovernment group A high desert unfolded in January, their views via legislation, thereby continued to stand by the Bundys dur- environment, non-binding U.N. resolution Association members Land Transfer composed of veterans and Network: A coalition of organized around the it initially looked like little more than a legitimizing and empowering them. The ing and after the occupation. And other where militia promoting sustainable believe sheriffs hold greater Movement adherents paramilitary who vow not Pacific Northwest militias dubious claim that 3 widescreen version of the flare-ups we’ve Sagebrush Rebellion, in other words, has groups, like the American Lands Council, development is a secret law enforcement authority believe that federal public to abide by laws or federal that includes the Three percent of Americans were seen in the West ever since the Sagebrush been co-opted: militarized in some places whose president is Utah State Rep. Ken members, law plan to create a one-world than their federal lands should be transferred regulations they deem Percenters, Oath Keepers combatants in the Rebellion erupted in the 1970s: “oppressed and politicized in others. Politicians, Ivory, while condemning the violence of government. counterparts. to the states. unconstitutional. and other smaller groups. Revolutionary War. enforcement ranchers,” anti-federal rhetoric, and even militants, sheriffs and others from across the act, supported the beliefs behind it. officials and stoic cowboy-hatted heroes to ride to the the right-wing spectrum have, over the It’s not entirely clear why all of these rescue. But a closer look — and the occu- last few years, found common cause (for folks, many of them urban, have taken local and state Brenda Barton supports State representative, AZ attended pation’s violent culmination — revealed a some examples, see chart, left), attending up a rural Western cause. It might be politicians bigger, more sinister problem than your conferences, rallies and events together, because ranchers and loggers better Ammon Bundy coalesce Businessman, AZ run-of-the-mill local-control scuffle. and putting their support behind a vari- fit the populist image they’re trying to For starters, precious few locals (or ety of agendas. project, or because they actually have around Cliven Bundy even ranchers) were among the couple The groups are bound together by some legitimate gripes regarding land- events and Rancher, NV member dozen occupiers of the Oregon’s Mal- libertarian-tinged ideology, disdain for use regulations. It’s not so easy to fight gatherings, Ryan Bundy heur National Wildlife Refuge. The lead Obama and fear that the government will against gun control when the laws are Melon farmer, NV occupier, Ammon Bundy, may look the take away their guns, their liberty, their laxer than ever, or revolt against the tax spurred on by Jim Chmelik part, but he actually owns a truck-fleet money, their land, their Confederate flags, man when taxes on the rich are far lower social media, County commissioner, ID maintenance business in Phoenix and a and, yes, Christmas. than they were in the 1950s. Perhaps it’s forming McMansion in Emmett, Idaho. At one of “What we’re seeing in the West is partly a matter of expedience: The dire Jennifer Fielder State representative, MT his press conferences, Bundy said that he a number of extremist streams com- economic straits in which many rural, shifting wasn’t just sticking up for “the ranchers, ing together to form a backdrop that is extractive industry-reliant counties have alliances Robert “LaVoy” Finicum the loggers and the farmers,” but also the complicated and frankly confusing,” says found themselves have made them ripe Rancher, foster parent, AZ around ill- “auto industry, the health-care industry Ryan Lenz of the Southern Poverty Law for insurgencies of the Bundy sort. Michele Fiore and financial advisors.” That remark, Center. The confluence has occurred at Past rebellions weren’t entirely non- defined aims. Assemblywoman, NV which ignored the violent, either; land Gil Gilbertson federal largesse those was bulldozed, federal Former sheriff, OR industries receive, officials were threat-

PEOPLE revealed the crusade’s ened and Forest Ser- Ken Ivory State representative, UT true scope. vice facilities bombed. Whereas the Sage- “Now, however, the Kent Lambert brush Rebellion of old acts of violence are less State representative, CO was driven largely by random than they once Jon Lopey pragmatic, grassroots were,” says Edward Sheriff, CA concerns, today’s ver- Patrovsky, a law Phil Lyman sion is purely ideo- enforcement agent for County commissioner, UT logical –– a nationwide the BLM who worked conﬂuence of right- Richard Mack in Southern California CSPOA founder, AZ wing and libertarian and Colorado from the extremists. Many of late 1980s until 2004. Ryan Payne them have little inter- “We have this network Electrician, MT est in grazing allot- of militant groups Stewart Rhodes ments, mining laws or working together, and Oath Keepers founder, NV the Wilderness Act. It’s I consider them to be Joseph Rice what these things sym- much more dangerous Aviation consultant, OR bolize that matters: than the more indi- A tyrannical federal vidualized, localized Heather Scott Nevada Assemblywoman Michele Fiore speaks at a press conference following the government activists nature of the Sage- State representative, ID Bundy ranch stando in Nevada in 2014. Stewart Rhodes, president of Oath Keepers, can denounce, defy and and former Sheri Richard Mack also spoke in support of Bundy. AARON PRECIADO brush Rebellion.” Matt Shea perhaps even engage Last fall I talked to State representative, WA in battle with. This Sean Thomas, a Forest Bob Thorpe movement, which has grown increasingly incidents like the Bundy Ranch standoff, Service law enforcement ofﬁcer sta- State representative, AZ virulent since President Barack Obama’s where members from all of these different tioned in southern Oregon, and the vice Carl Wilson election, has created a stew of ideologi- movements stood shoulder-to-shoulder to president of the National Federation of State representative, OR cally similar groups, ready to coalesce defend the “rights” of what they portrayed Federal Employees Local 5300. Thomas, around each other when necessary. as a persecuted rancher. It also happened who has faced the belligerence of a CSPOA Conference Bundy Ranch Standoff Recapture Canyon Sugar Pine Mine White Hope Mine Idaho “Gun Grab” Burns Protest/ As we head into an election year, it’s at Malheur, though in a less harmonious constitutional sheriff before, believes we Las Vegas, NV Clark County, NV San Juan County, UT Josephine County, OR Lewis and Clark Priest River, ID Malheur Occupation worth noting that many of the extreme September 2012 April 2014 May 2014 April 2015 County, MT August 2015 Harney County, OR way: The Oath Keepers, a constitution- stand at a pivotal moment. “The feeling WEB EXTRA Discover Constitutional sheriffs first A 20-year legal dispute An ATV ride on closed A dispute between August 2015 After the Department of January 2016 actions carried out by fringe groups, such alist militia that has backed ranchers we all have out here in the West,” he told connections in the met in January and between the BLM and trails in southeast Utah to militia-supported gold A dispute between Veterans Affairs declared An armed group of as the Malheur occupation, inspire other and miners on public lands, did not fully me, months before the explosive events “Sagebrush Insurgency” September, featuring Cliven Bundy over unpaid protest alleged overreach miners and the BLM over militia-supported miners a Vietnam veteran anti-government activists hard-core ideologues and ultimately support the occupation because of its at Malheur, “is that this is a pressure through the interactive prominent Tea Partiers grazing fees on federally by federal agencies. southwestern Oregon in western Montana and mentally incompetent, seized control of the translate into votes for like-minded objections to the way it was carried out. cooker, and something’s about to blow.” version of this graphic as speakers. owned land developed mining claims. the Forest Service over more than 100 protesters Malheur National Wildlife politicians. In return, those politicians Yet the more hardcore politicians, such as JONATHAN THOMPSON at hcn.org. into an armed mining claims. gathered in support of Refuge, near Burns, confrontation. his gun-ownership rights. Oregon, where other www.hcn.org High Country News 17 EVENTS militia gathered. FEATURE | BY JONATHAN THOMPSON

Sagebrush Sheriffs How rural peace o cers are joining the radical right’s war against the feds

n the morning of May 10, 2014, while he piloted his four-wheeler with the first uprising, led in part by then-County San Juan County Sheriff Rick other. Others carried signs: “Tranfer (sic) Commissioner Calvin Black in the 1970s, A critical Eldredge waited on horseback Federal Lands to Western States” and was a reaction to what some saw as the component of in the sagebrush of Recapture “Stop BLM Agenda 21 Road Closings.” federal occupation of the West by way of the Sagebrush OCanyon in southeastern Utah. In his fad- Ryan Bundy, the son of scofflaw rancher new environmental laws that impacted ed jeans, boots and white cowboy hat, he Cliven Bundy, rode a four-wheeler down federal lands. It was also part of a region- Insurgency is looked as if he were out for a casual ride the canyon, as did a handful of self-pro- wide effort to transfer federal lands in the the co-opting in the cool spring air. But what appeared fessed militiamen who, just weeks earlier, West to the states. of the security to be a bulletproof vest underneath his had supported Bundy in his heavily The second iteration unfolded in the shirt and the 30-odd deputies scattered armed standoff with BLM agents in Clark mid-1990s, provoked by former President structure by amid the canyon’s scrub oak and sand- County, Nevada. Bill Clinton’s conservationist approach to “constitutional stone hinted at a different story. As the roar of the ATVs echoed up federal land. While that rebellion became sheriffs,” Eldredge and his deputies were braced the canyon, Eldredge and his men stood violent and coincided with a nationwide for a mass act of motorized civil disobedi- ready. With a herd of determined law- surge in anti-federal extremism, the land- who occupy ence. Frustrated by “unconscionable acts breakers heading toward them, another use folks rarely crossed paths with the powerful, by the Bureau of Land Management,” standoff seemed imminent. But as the so-called “Patriot” groups. Today, though, long-standing including the 2007 closure to motorized caravan of protesters rode past the clo- the barriers are down. Now, a single event vehicles of the trail down Recapture sure line, kicking up a billow of exhaust like Recapture, the 2014 Bundy Ranch positions in Canyon, San Juan County Commissioner and red dust, the deputies did nothing, standoff or the Malheur National Wildlife rural counties Phil Lyman and 40 to 50 followers were and Eldredge merely nodded a stoic greet- Refuge occupation, broadcast globally and and either driving their ATVs toward the closed ing from atop his steed. That’s because he instantly via social media, draws sup- section of the canyon. They were there to wasn’t actually there to police the protest, porters from across the extreme right, tacitly or defy federal regulations to protest what but to “keep the peace.” For the protest- from other Sagebrush Rebels to pro-gun implicitly they consider the BLM’s heavy-handed ers, at least, that meant he was there to militiamen to local politicians who have back unlawful management of the public lands that protect them from the plainclothes BLM no qualms about standing cheek-by- comprise so much of their county. officers roaming the canyon and collecting jowl with people aiming rifles at federal activities In promoting the ride, Lyman, soft- evidence — officers that Eldredge kicked agents. against federal spoken with a boyish face and salt-and- out of the canyon before the ride was Among those officials are a growing authorities. pepper hair, invoked one of America’s finished. cadre of county sheriffs, many of them favorite civil disobeyers, Henry David “There’s a big difference (between the from the rural West, who believe them- Thoreau. Thoreau, however, seemed Bundys and me),” Lyman told reporters selves above the reach of federal govern- an unlikely role model: Several of the prior to the ride. “I’ve got a sheriff stand- ment, constitutionally empowered as protesters carried firearms, including a ing next to me.” the supreme law of the land. Some have clean-cut guy with a “Regulator” neck chosen to become part of this movement, tattoo and a semi-automatic Glock on his THE RECAPTURE RIDE was just another while others have joined unwittingly, by hip. A young man wearing an “American skirmish in the Sagebrush Rebellion, an taking strong political stances or acting Venom” T-shirt had an assault rifle in one anti-federal land-management movement on the behalf of local anti-government hand, his finger never leaving the trigger, with roots here in San Juan County. The movements. Eldredge, who refused to be

18 High Country News February 8, 2016 Richard Mack, le , as Graham County, Arizona, sheri in 1994, sued the federal government over the background check provision of the Brady Act. Today, Mack (shown here at a 2010 anti-gun rally in Washington, D.C.) pushes for local control and tries to get candidates with “constitutional” leanings elected. Below, Colorado sheris ank Weld County, Colorado, Sheri John Cooke in 2013 as he announces that 54 Colorado sheris had led a federal lawsuit challenging two gun control bills passed by the Colorado Legislature.

JIM WEST / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO BRENNAN LINSLEY /THE ASSOCIATED PRESS interviewed for this story, openly allied propelled him back into the political spot- that Washington, D.C., has become. If himself with Lyman and company. These light. In reaction, Mack wrote a 50-page need be, he says, sheriffs even have the self-proclaimed “constitutional sheriffs” screed denouncing the federal govern- power to prevent federal and state agents use their assumed position as the ulti- ment and its intrusion into individual and from enforcing those laws, thereby nul- mate law enforcement authority to fight state rights. The County Sheriff: America’s lifying federal authority. If a particular environmental regulation, run federal Last Hope, published in 2009, argues that sheriff doesn’t rally to the cause, then the officials out of their counties, and, in some the sheriff is the ultimate law enforce- voters should kick him out of office. And cases, break the law themselves. ment authority and thus the “last line Mack and his organization have been “There is no of defense” shielding individual liberties quietly fielding opposition candidates in solution in THE CONSTITUTIONAL SHERIFFS’ seminal from out-of-control federal bureaucrats. many counties. In fact, he is one of the moment was in 1994, when Richard The manifesto cemented his cause and forces behind the Constitutional County Washington, Mack, then-sheriff of Graham County, Ari- made him one of the prime movers of the Project, which aims, this year, to elect a zona, and a handful of other sheriffs sued ad hoc reactionary movement that would whole slate of “constitutional” candidates D.C. If we’re the federal government over a provision come to be known as the Tea Party. to office in Navajo County, Arizona, in going to take in the 1993 Brady Act that required local With his clear blue eyes, sweeping what amounts to a nonviolent coup d’état. law enforcement to handle background black hair and easy smile, Mack looks like “There is no solution in Washington, America back checks on gun sales. In 1997, the Supreme central casting’s idea of the perfect sheriff. D.C.,” Mack told me. “If we’re going to Court ruled 5-4 for the sheriffs, deeming He shared his philosophy at dozens of Tea take America back it’s going to be at the it’s going it unconstitutional for the feds to force the Party rallies as well as gatherings of the local level.” state or its officers to execute the regula- Oath Keepers, a quasi-militia organiza- Some Western sheriffs didn’t need to be at the tion. tion founded in 2009. Had there been a Mack’s encouragement. Back in 2000, local level.” Mack’s defiance made him a folk hero true constitutional sheriff in Montgomery, Eldredge’s predecessor, Mike Lacy, forc- to the then-burgeoning Patriot movement, Alabama, back in 1955, Mack told his ibly opened a road in Utah’s Canyonlands —Richard Mack, which is centered around the belief that audiences, that sheriff would have defied that the National Park Service had closed president of the the federal government is taking away in- the segregation laws and protected Rosa to protect cultural resources. A few years Constitutional Sheriffs dividual liberties. Mack became a speaker and Peace Officers Parks. “Today, that constitutional sheriff later, his Kane County counterpart, Sher- Association (CSPOA) at Patriot gatherings, railing at Clinton does the same for Rosa Parks the gun iff Lamont Smith, went on a countywide and his attorney general, Janet Reno. In owner,” Mack says, “or Rosa Parks the escapade, removing more than two dozen 1996, Mack lost his bid for re-election, but rancher, or Rosa Parks the landowner, BLM signs that indicated road closures he still spoke for libertarian causes, and or Rosa Parks the homeschooler, or Rosa and other restrictions on motorized travel. he co-wrote a book with Randy Weaver, Parks the tax protester.” Mack’s movement gave these lone-wolf the man at the center of the 1992 Ruby By refusing to enforce federal and sheriffs a collective sense of empower- Ridge shootout with federal agents, the state laws that they deem unconstitu- ment and a rallying point. event that catalyzed the militia move- tional, whether they involve BLM road By 2011, when Mack formally created ment. closures, gun control, drug laws or bans the Constitutional Sheriffs and Police But it was Mack’s “complete discour- against selling unpasteurized milk, Mack Officers Association, or CSPOA, his creed agement and feelings of hopelessness” at says sheriffs can lead the fight to rescue was already infiltrating Western sheriffs’ the 2008 election of Barack Obama that America from the “cesspool of corruption” offices. That year, Josephine County,

www.hcn.org High Country News 19 the human race. And one more thing: We’re broke. Why don’t you let the people work?” His message was clear: Environ- mental regulations wreck the economy, and a bad economy leads to crime, so the interests of sheriffs everywhere are best served by fighting environmental regulations. Four months later, in January 2012, the CSPOA held its first gathering in Las Vegas, followed by a second event that September. By then, Obama was on his way to being re-elected and Tea Partiers had triumphed in a number of Republi- can primaries. Mack’s attendance ros- ters read like a Who’s Who of Tea Party politics. They included Oath Keepers’ founder Stewart Rhodes and Sagebrush Sheriffs such as Spruell and Lopey. Also speaking was Tom DeWeese, president of the American Policy Center, known for spreading fears that the United Nations, under Agenda 21, is taking over the world via bike paths and public transit, and Joe Arpaio, the notorious sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, whom Mack praised for launching an investigation into the valid- ity of Obama’s birth certificate. Ken Ivory, president of the American Lands Council and champion of the federal land-transfer movement, gave a rousing speech at the September gathering about the “revolu- “Some of tion of ideologies” he and the sheriffs were engaged in. your federal The larger movement really gelled, and state though, after the December 2012 shooting massacre of 20 children and six adults in agencies Newtown, Connecticut, when it seemed as if Congress might pass modest gun care more control measures. Hundreds of the 3,000- about fish, odd county sheriffs nationwide revolted against the specter of such regulations, frogs, trees vowing not to enforce any new gun laws and to prevent federal officials from do- and birds ing so. The West led the charge, with a majority of the region’s 300 rural sheriffs, than (they) Republicans and Democrats alike, signing do about the Then-Josephine County, Oregon, Sheriff Gil Gilbertson, who questioned the federal on to oppose new state or federal gun government’s authority on federal land, lost his bid for re-election in 2014. laws. Sheriffs who did not join the charge human race.” BOB PENNELL/MAIL TRIBUNE VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS were added to a list of “red coats” on the CSPOA website, and risked the wrath of —Siskiyou County, Oregon, Sheriff Gil Gilbertson started notion. One sheriff after another stood their gun-loving constituents. California, Sheriff making headlines for defying (and alleg- up and spoke proudly about his involve- Jon Lopey in a 2011 Mack told me he is especially proud of event called Sheriffs edly harassing) federal land managers. ment in the Tea Party and the “assault the letter to Obama from 28 of Utah’s 29 Stand TALL for the Montezuma County, Colorado, Sheriff being perpetrated against our community county sheriffs, Eldredge included, which Constitution Dennis Spruell appeared on the right- by our own government” by way of travel read, in part: “No federal official will be wing radio show, The Political Cesspool, management plans and dam removals. permitted to descend upon our constitu- where he threatened to arrest federal Tellingly, Karen Budd-Falen, a Wyoming- ents and take from them what the Bill officials who closed roads, citing his duty based property rights attorney who is of Rights — in particular Amendment II to defend his county “against enemies, well-known for representing Sagebrush — has given them. We, like you, swore a foreign and domestic,” part of an oath un- Rebels against the federal government, solemn oath to protect and defend the Con- dertaken by members of the U.S. armed was also on the panel. stitution of the United States, and we are services and now a favorite catchphrase of “We’re challenging the status quo, and prepared to trade our lives for the preser- constitutional sheriffs. we are challenging some federal and state vation of its traditional interpretation.” In October 2011, seven sheriffs agencies and some special interest groups from Northern California and one from who are using money, influence, politics, MACK’S ORGANIZATION is not unique in southern Oregon gathered for an event regulations and lies to literally destroy believing in sheriff supremacy. The notion in Yreka, California, called “Sheriffs rural America and our way of life,” the was critical to the ideology of the ultra- Stand TALL for the Constitution.” If any event’s host, Siskiyou County Sheriff Jon conservative John Birch Society, founded of the predominantly white, older audi- Lopey, said, summing up the sentiments in 1958, as well as the racist, anti-tax ence believed that sheriffs are, or ought of his colleagues. “Some of your federal Posse Comitatus group of the 1970s. Now, to be, apolitical, objective enforcers of the and state agencies care more about fish, organizations like the Oath Keepers have law, they were quickly disabused of the frogs, trees and birds than (they) do about embraced it as well. The idea acts as a

20 High Country News February 8, 2016 kind of glue that binds many of these It’s often tough even for the voters to by promoting, under color of the office of libertarian and right-wing movements to- boot a sitting sheriff. In rural counties, Josephine County Sheriff, a clearly er- gether; Sagebrush Rebels, Second Amend- among the only people qualified to replace roneous interpretation of federal law,” she ment advocates, county- and states’-rights a sheriff are the deputies, who risk losing wrote him in a letter. “As a result, miners groups and border security activists have their job by taking on their boss. “Honest- are becoming increasingly confrontational increasingly looked to sheriffs to use their ly, the sheriff is rarely challenged,” says with federal officers. … Your continued clout on their behalf. LaFrance; in fact, the average sheriff’s misguided crusade will only increase the This power, says Mack, derives mostly term is about 24 years. This apparent safety risks to our federal officers and from the fact that the sheriff is the only invulnerability makes some sheriffs feel members of the public.” elected law enforcement official, elevating free of the necessity of enforcing laws Rose Chilcoat, executive director of him above his bureaucratic counterparts. to which they are ideologically opposed, Great Old Broads for Wilderness, the Added to that is the 1997 Supreme Court and that, say critics, can have dangerous longtime bête noir of Lyman and other decision on the Brady Bill’s proposed consequences. San Juan County conservatives, says background checks. The majority opinion, “When law enforcement refuses to en- when elected officials side with lawbreak- written by Justice Antonin Scalia, is in force the laws, it sends a dangerous signal ers, “it hugely undermines a civil society. Mack’s favor: “The Federal Government to extremists,” says Jessica Goad of the It makes it that much harder for the feds may neither issue directives requiring the Center for Western Priorities. “It serves to make a case. They can say: ‘Yeah, I States to address particular problems, nor to embolden those who tend towards rode my ATV on that closed trail because command the States’ officers, or those of violence. This rhetoric and stance has an the sheriff said it’s OK.’ ” The feds made their political subdivisions, to administer extremely chilling effect on the people a strong case against Lyman, however, or enforce a federal regulatory program.” who are doing their jobs — from park and ultimately succeeded in getting him That interpretation could be used to jus- rangers to environmental activists. The convicted of two federal misdemeanors for tify Eldredge’s refusal to stop the illegal thought that the sheriff doesn’t enforce organizing and participating in the ride. Recapture Canyon ride, as well as the the law is scary.” Lyman was sentenced to 10 days in jail, sheriffs who threaten to ignore federal It goes even further. U.S. Attorney and he and a collaborator were ordered gun laws. S. Amanda Marshall chastised then- to pay $96,000 in restitution for damage Yet the court decision does not em- Josephine County Sheriff Gilbertson after done. (He is appealing the verdict.) power those sheriffs to stop or impede fed- he riled up a meeting of miners in 2012 Sheriffs have used their authority to eral officers from enforcing federal laws and even promised to arrest federal law weigh in on all manner of issues. Mack or regulations. Nor does it require federal enforcement officers for “impersonating” was a leading figure at the Bundy Ranch officers to get the local sheriff’s permis- police. “You do the miners a disservice standoff in 2014, excoriating the local sion before doing their jobs. Mack’s rhetoric, says Casey LaFrance, an associate professor of political science at Western Illinois University and author of Target- ing Discretion, a police-training manual, is driven more by historical context than legal precedent. The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, for example, prohibited the U.S. military from enforcing laws or invoking “posse comitatus” — that is, enlisting citizens to fight crime or repel outside invaders, a right sheriffs possessed in colonial America. According to some, this puts sheriffs at the top of the law enforcement food chain. State legislatures, including those in Montana, Arizona and Washington, have tried to pass legislation giving sheriffs more power, usually by undercutting federal law enforcement. They’re rarely successful, but in 2013, Eldredge attended the Utah Legislature’s session to help Rep. Mike Noel, a well-known Sagebrush Rebel from Kane County, introduce a bill to limit the ability of federal officials to enforce state and local laws on public lands in the state. The “sheriff’s bill” passed, but was later repealed after the courts stopped it from taking effect. Which isn’t to say sheriffs aren’t already extremely powerful, says LaFrance. As elected officials, sheriffs are account- able only to the voters. County commissioners have no control over them and can’t remove a sheriff, even if he or she is convicted of a crime. Though commissioners typically control the budget, they are usually prohibited from cutting off the sheriff altogether. In most states, only the governor can remove a sheriff from en-Montezuma County, Colorado, Sheri Dennis Spruell, le , sits with constitutionalists Bob Sanders and Mike office, and that is only in cases of extreme Gaddy in 2011. e sheri had threatened to arrest any Forest Service workers he deemed to be breaking laws by closing malfeasance. certain roads. Spruell lost his bid for re-election in 2014. HELEN H. RICHARDSON/THE DENVER POST VIA GETTY IMAGES

www.hcn.org High Country News 21 sheriff for not running the BLM out of there, and last year, he urged constitutional sheriffs to refuse to enforce the Supreme Court’s decision to permit gay marriage. In Idaho, Bonner County Arms Race Sheriff Daryl Wheeler wrote to the state’s governor, Butch Otter, exhort- ing him not to resettle Syrian refugees. Mack was on hand in Burns, Oregon, on the Range in early January to demonstrate in support of ranchers Dwight and Steven n 2012, Steve Martin, an Arizona- protesters in eastern Oregon. Hammond, who were sentenced to five The BLM is based special agent for the federal Before the Bundy showdown, the years in prison for arson on federal Bureau of Land Management, sat in BLM asked the local sheriff for support, land. Even though he is close to the more armed a briefing room at the Federal Law but decided to go it alone after failing to Bundys, however, Mack questioned Enforcement Training Center in Artesia, receive it. “That’s an attitude that just their subsequent occupation of the than ever, I New Mexico, listening to the details of can’t work at BLM,” Martin says. nearby wildlife refuge. While the local a clandestine operation his agency was Harney County Sheriff, David Ward, but it’s still planning in the Nevada desert. The goal THE BLM BADGED ITS FIRST 13 RANGERS has taken a strong stance against seemed commendable — to round up in 1978 for a specific purpose: To rein in the occupation, Sheriff Glenn Palmer, outgunned rancher Cliven Bundy’s cattle, which had illegal off-road vehicles in the California from Grant County, Oregon expressed been grazing illegally on public land for desert. They modeled themselves after limited support for Bundy and friends, decades — but he thought the approach Park Service rangers — brown wool trou- saying the federal government should seemed off. The plan was full of unduly sers, khaki shirts and all — and carried give in to some of their demands. optimistic bravado, and it lacked a key only pistols. When the program expanded Palmer was the 2011 CSPOA Sheriff of ingredient: cooperation with the county beyond California in the late ’80s, “ev- the Year, and made his name by push- sheriff. Says Martin: “I remember think- erybody thought the rangers were about ing back against federal land agency ing, ‘Is this still the BLM?’ ” recreation management,” says Dennis travel-management plans. Two years later, in April 2014, when McLane, who joined in 1979 and became Mack says the CSPOA has about BLM law enforcement officers finally de- the BLM’s first chief ranger in 1989. As 4,500 dues-paying members, some scended on Bundy’s ranch at Bunkerville, the rangers trickled across the West, 200 of whom are sheriffs, and he says Nevada, Martin, by then retired, wasn’t he says, they quickly confronted other his group has “trained” (taught their surprised by the outcome. Wielding tas- crimes: archaeological looting, timber principles to) hundreds more. But the ers and police dogs, the agency’s officers theft, illegal dumping. tentacles of the constitutional sheriff were confronted by protesters who had But the agency rarely acted alone. philosophy clearly reach far beyond the gathered in defense of Bundy. A video of Following the guidance of the Federal group’s membership rolls. Shortly after the incident, showing a BLM ranger tas- Land Policy and Management Act of the Recapture ride, the conservative ing one of Bundy’s sons, went viral, and 1976, which granted the agency law media outlet Breitbart Texas inter- The dozens of Oath Keepers and other militia enforcement authority, but emphasized viewed Eldredge, who in 2010 had run Sagebrush types from around the country flocked to “maximum feasible reliance upon local as a Democrat against then-incumbent Bunkerville to take on the federal “jack- law enforcement,” BLM rangers routinely Mike Lacy, promising to open more Insurgency booted thugs.” Two days later, a small line cooperated with county sheriffs, says Ed doors to federal agencies. Four years narrative of flak-jacketed BLM rangers with as- Patrovsky, who in the early ’90s was the later, he was a Republican, running relies partly sault rifles, backed up by similarly armed first ranger sent to patrol 3.2 million on a record of standing against federal Park Service rangers, were strategically acres of BLM land in northwest Colorado. overreach. In the interview, the sheriff on an image surrounded by the protesters, some point- “Without that,” he says, “doing much of blamed environmental regulations for of over- ing guns of their own. Local law enforce- any work would have been very difficult,” transforming San Juan County from reach by ment was conspicuously absent until because of how thinly spread the new one of the richest counties to one of the the standoff’s final moments, when the force was. In the BLM’s first major stand- poorest in the state, and he said he’d federal lands sheriff helped negotiate a truce and the off with protestors, the 1990 shutdown love to see federal land transferred to agencies, agency backed down. of the notorious off-road race between the state. When asked if he consid- including the Today, Bundy’s cattle remain on the Barstow, California, and Las Vegas, Ne- ered himself a constitutional sheriff, range, and the federal government has vada, the county sheriff played a key role, Eldredge replied, “I do. Bureau of not brought charges against him. The pursuing violators by helicopter. “I thought every sheriff was sup- Land Man- defeat illustrates what Martin says he As the West changed, so did the rang- posed to be a constitutional sheriff,” he agement, learned in his 24-year career with the ers. Bulging cities like Los Angeles and added. “That’s our job.” BLM: Though the agency has given its Las Vegas pushed urban crime onto the which has rangers more modern equipment to public land. Off-roading in the desert Coverage in this special report is proven itself handle the increasingly complex conflicts sometimes degenerated into drug- and supported by contributors to the High ill-adapted on public lands, it still has a surprisingly alcohol-fueled riots with stabbings and Country News Enterprise Journalism small and politically vulnerable presence other violent crime. “We were seeing more Fund. to the con- on the Western range. and more automatic weaponry,” says Cris frontations About 200 rangers — the term the Hartman, hired as a ranger in 1984. She brought by BLM has always used to describe its field recalls a series of controversial equipment the more officers — enforce the agency’s regula- upgrades: shotguns in the ’80s; semi-au- tions across the more than a quarter tomatic rifles in 1992; and high-powered militarized billion acres it manages in the West. assault rifles in the early 2000s, after elements That’s one ranger per an area larger than she’d left the BLM for the Forest Service, the state of Delaware. Veterans say that where she observed a similar pattern. Senior editor of the without significant backup support from Still, “the sheriffs were always ahead of Jonathan movement. Thompson writes local, state and other federal law enforce- us,” in terms of weaponry, she says. from Durango, ment, the BLM can’t possibly handle The agency began hiring rangers who Colorado. volatile conflicts like the one at Bunker- thought of themselves more as police @jonnypeace ville, or the current standoff with armed officers. “We brought in people who told

22 High Country News February 8, 2016 Bureau of Land Management rangers stand guard as protesters gather at the gate of the BLM’s Bunkerville base camp a er the roundup of some of Cliven Bundy’s cattle from public land in April 2014. JIM URQUHART/REUTERS their buddies in Border Patrol or wher- Bunkerville raid. sheriff, whom Sagebrush Rebel-types ever else, ‘Hey, come to the BLM, there’s a Has the BLM’s current leadership tend to regard as the legitimate law of the lot of kick-ass stuff going on here,’ ” says learned any lessons from Bunkerville? land, may have been able to defuse the Martin. It’s hard to know because the agency has Bunkerville protest, had he been given The shift on the ground reflected demonstrated a nearly complete unwill- the lead. changes at the top. In the wake of 9/11, ingness to discuss it with High Country Rangers still have a simple, everyday the agency peeled away its special agents News, or any other news organization. mission to protect the public’s lands, and — who specialize in long-term investiga- But retirees like Martin and Patrovsky the BLM needs to promote that image, he tions — from civilian field managers and hope the incident will help spur the says. In the past, “we weren’t marshals, put them under the command of a newly agency to restrengthen its partnerships we weren’t the FBI, ATF or DEA,” Martin created director position, filled by Bill with local sheriffs and reconsider its own says. “The public looked at us as rangers.” Woody, who had never worked for the limits. MARSHALL SWEARINGEN BLM. The number of agents increased, “We know there are a lot of people sometimes drawn from the ranks of the out there who don’t like us,” says Martin. Marshall Swearingen is a freelance FBI and other traditional law enforce- That’s why he speculates that the local reporter based in Livingston, Montana. ment agencies. Today, the agency has 75 agents, up nearly 50 percent from a decade ago, while the number of rangers Clark County Sheriff has remained relatively steady. Douglas Gillespie, The restructuring created “a faction right, shown with Cliven Bundy, within the agency,” says former BLM helped negotiate a Director Bob Abbey. “I think, in many nonviolent ending respects, they have become a separate to the Bunkerville, organization.” Nevada, standoff. It also magnified certain personalities, JIM URQUHART/REUTERS by giving more autonomy to the “special agents in charge” who oversee consoli- dated regions. Martin is hesitant to name names, but like others critical of the direction that BLM law enforcement has taken, he clearly means Dan Love, the special agent for Utah and Nevada. Love spearheaded a series of busts of illegal ar- tifact trading in southeast Utah in 2009. Locals denounced it as federal overreach, especially after an informant and two of the alleged traders committed suicide. Love also presided over the unexplained cancellation of cooperative agreements with sheriffs in several Utah counties. And he was the agent who briefed Martin and others in 2012, about the upcoming

www.hcn.org High Country News 23 Mining, continued from page 7 swap. Any concerns will be addressed during the analysis, says Vicky Peacey, who method used in Arizona — since the min- oversees permitting for Resolution. ers tunnel underground. Yet once the ore But University of Vermont Law School is removed, the earth above it sinks. That professor Patrick Parenteau says that will plunge thousands of acres of this bio- stipulations in McCain’s bill create a “bas- The mine will logically diverse landscape into a crater tardized version” of NEPA safeguards. He nearly 1,000 feet deep and a mile across. points to the fact that under the new law, plunge thousands An additional mile around the crater the land swap must be carried out within of acres of this could remain dangerously unstable and 60 days after the EIS is completed — in off-limits to the public for generations. effect, green-lighting the project as it’s biologically According to Scott Wood, who spent submitted. “There is no way judicial re- 40 years as the Tonto National Forest ar- view could take place in time to prevent diverse landscape chaeologist, Oak Flat contains hundreds it,” says Parenteau. This end-run around into a crater of ancient sites, including “the single larg- NEPA is the primary reason Secretary of est Apache archaeological site currently Agriculture Tom Vilsack and Interior’s nearly 1,000 feet known.” Beyond Oak Flat, says Wood, Sally Jewell oppose the deal. The EIS deep and a mile waste from the mine — expected to create process has not yet begun, and will take a pile 50 stories high on a footprint four years to complete, according to a Forest across. times the size of Central Park — would Service spokesperson. bury countless other archaeological sites, Last June, Congressman Raúl Gri- some of them several thousand years old. jalva, D-Ariz., introduced a bill that oppo- Terry Rambler, chairman of the near- nents see as the last, best shot at stopping by San Carlos Apache Tribe, testiﬁed the mine. HR 2811, titled “Save Oak Flat,” against the mine before a Senate commit- would repeal the land exchange, forc- tee in 2013, and asked: “Would (you) have ing Resolution to negotiate a new swap this same position if an ore body were to –- this time with full NEPA protections. be located beneath (your) church … and a That would almost certainly require us- company wanted to bulldoze or destroy it?” ing a less destructive mining technique, Under the National Environmental like cut-and-ﬁll, in which mine waste is Policy Act, or NEPA, an environmental returned to previously excavated areas, impact statement is required prior to the thus avoiding subsidence of surface land.

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24 High Country News February 8, 2016 But because Oak Flat’s copper is low- grade ore, Resolution insists that block cave mining is the only economically feasible technique. “That’s the method that’s been selected based on what God put there,” Peacey says. If the EIS prohibits block caving, Res- olution could still mine the deposit using traditional methods, though it would be less proﬁtable, says Roger Featherstone, director of the Arizona Mining Reform Coalition, a group opposed to Resolution’s current plan. And some say that the company may be too deeply invested to just walk away, given that it has already sunk a billion dollars into drilling the deepest mine shaft of its kind in the United States, on private land. But Featherstone believes Resolution might do just that if Grijalva’s bill passes. “That’s a lot of money to you and me, but not to them. Their corporate culture is all about maximizing proﬁts.” If Resolution doesn’t get what it wants, it could simply take a billion-dollar tax loss, says Feath- erstone. “It’s just not that big of a deal to them.”

Archaeologist Tom Wright hikes through what would be the center of the future Rio Tinto mine at Oak Flat Campground in the Tonto National Forest. DEANNA DENT/ REUTERS

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Notice to our advertisers: You can place At the Center for Biological Diversity, Associate Director — Great Old Broads for and consumer choices, and species extinction classified ads with our online classified sys- we believe that the welfare of human beings Wilderness, a national nonprofit based due to resource depletion and environmental tem. Visit http://classifieds.hcn.org. Feb. is deeply linked to nature — to the existence in Durango, seeks a full-time Associate degradation. To apply, please send a résumé 8 is the deadline to place your print ad in in our world of a vast diversity of wild animals Director. Must have a passion for public-lands and a thoughtful cover letter outlining your the Feb. 22 issue. Call 800-311-5852, or and plants. The Center is currently looking for advocacy with a desire to work with a small, interest in the position to RenewableEnergy- e-mail [email protected] for help or in- a Senior Attorney or Staff Attorney to join our dedicated and fun-loving team. More: [email protected]; include formation. For more information about our Public Lands team of attorneys, campaigners www.greatoldbroads.org/employment-op- Senior Renewable Energy Campaigner in the current rates and display ad options, visit and communication specialists who are portunities. subject line. The full position description can hcn.org/advertising. working to enforce the laws governing federal be seen at http://www.biologicaldiversity. leasing of fossil fuels. This position will fo- Retail Leadership Positions — Yellow- org/about/jobs/#recampaigner. Advertising Policy: We accept advertising cus on the Federal Fossil Fuels “Keep It In stone Association (YA) is recruiting for two We are an EOE. the Ground” Campaign. This is a full-time because it helps pay the costs of publishing key leadership positions within our Retail op- HEALTH AND WELLNESS a high-quality, full-color magazine, where position with a preferred location of Denver, eration: Director of Retail and Retail Supply topics are well-researched and reported Colo. Please send a cover letter, a résumé, Chain Manager. YA’s Park Stores support Enjoy a healthier lifestyle! Experience in an in-depth manner. The percentage of references and a writing sample via email our educational mission directly by providing the LIVING ENERGY of Premium Grade–A the magazine’s income that is derived from (no paper) to PublicLands_attorney@bio- educational products for park visitors, and Essential Oils. Unadulterated — no pesticides. advertising is modest, and the number of logicaldiversity.org, “Attn: Attorney Job.” indirectly by generating net revenues that Organically grown. Proprietary distilling advertising pages will not exceed one-third The position will remain open until filled. are donated to Yellowstone National Park to methods. Business opportunity. of our printed pages annually. No telephone calls, please. Only candidates support education and research in the park. www.theOilSolution.com. selected for interviews will be contacted. We Both of these positions provide a tremendous are an EEOE. opportunity for a strong leader to play a crit- HOME AND GARDEN BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES ical role in support of Yellowstone National Freedom Ranger Hatchery, Inc. — Hatch- Conservationist? Irrigable Land? Stellar Finance and Operations Director — Four Park. See job descriptions and apply online ing year-round. Freedom ranger chickens/ seed-saving NGO is available to serious part- Corners School of Outdoor Education seeks a on our website. https://www.yellowstoneas- black broilers, bantam silkies, French guin- ner. Package must include financial support. skilled Finance and Operations Director who sociation.org/jobs. eas, khaki campbell/white muscovy ducks. Details: http://seeds.ojaidigital.net. will be hands-on in leading and developing an 717-336-4878. internal administration team to support the Senior Renewable Energy Campaigner www.freedomrangerhatchery.com. following areas: finance, business planning, EMPLOYMENT At the Center for Biological Diversity, we budgeting, human resources, administration, believe that the welfare of human beings

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www.hcn.org High Country News 27 WRITERS ON THE RANGE Rep. Rob Bishop’s assault on Theodore Roosevelt Utah Republican Rep. Rob Bishop is public lands. were already publicly owned. using his position as chairman of the Another Bishop target is the Antiqui- The congressman also declared that House Natural Resources Committee to ties Act, which Roosevelt signed into law none of the new monuments have “any- wage a war on the legacy of Theodore in 1906. It was originally a Republican thing to do with an antiquity.” Yet one of Roosevelt, our Republican president idea that gives the president, as well as them, Basin and Range National Monu- from 1901-1909. The latest front in this Congress, the authority to protect pub- ment in Nevada, contains 2,000-year-old war is Bishop’s plan to mangle the mis- licly owned historic or natural areas as bristlecone pine trees and Native Ameri- sion of the Land and Water Conservation national monuments. The Republicans can rock art dating back 4,000 years. Fund. who introduced this law wisely recog- When someone pointed out the Native The fund helps protect hunting, nized that presidential authority was American rock art, Bishop famously OPINION BY fishing and other outdoor recreation essential, because Congress often could snapped, “Ah, bullcrap. That’s not an an- DAVID JENKINS opportunities, while safeguarding our not act fast enough to protect historic tiquity.” Another is Waco Mammoth Na- national parks and preserving historic sites or important natural areas from be- tional Monument in Texas, established sites. It is based on a very conservative ing plundered or developed. During his to preserve the fossilized remains of 24 idea: Use a small portion of the revenue tenure, however, Bishop has introduced Columbian mammoths. Unlike Bishop, from the extraction of offshore oil and numerous bills to erode or eliminate the Former First Lady (and native Texan) gas to conserve other natural resources. president’s ability to designate monu- Laura Bush said she was “thrilled” with This program has served our nation well ments under the act. the designation. for 50 years without costing a dime of Earlier this year, when President Congressman Bishop’s war on TR’s taxpayer money. Obama named three new national monu- legacy doesn’t end there. He is pushing Bishop wants to replace the fund ments, Bishop went ballistic, saying it to surrender our nation’s iconic public with his own radical remake, which “makes states and citizens fearful that lands — lands that, in accordance with WEB EXTRA To see all the current would undermine the program by divert- the federal government can invade at Roosevelt’s vision, currently belong to Writers on the Range ing much of its revenue back to the oil any time to seize more lands like bandits all Americans — to state and private columns, and archives, and gas industry and practically zeroing in the night.” It was an odd statement, interests for development. He and fellow visit hcn.org out the portion available to support our especially since the lands in question Utah Republican Rep. Chris Stewart

28 High Country News February 8, 2016 stewardship. There is nothing conservative about that goal. Now in a position of power he has coveted for years, Bishop is determined not to waste the opportunity. Rob Bishop holds He is pushing as far as he can to enact an image he says his radical agenda — and with some is misleading and success: Bishop’s Antiquities Act bill has was created by already passed the House once. critics of his public In his day, Roosevelt knew of people lands proposal. like Rob Bishop, and he warned us not Bishop and Rep. Jason Cha etz have to follow men “whose eyes are a little too unveiled a dra wild to make it really safe to trust them.” of their plan to Immortalized on Mount Rushmore protect 4 million alongside Washington, Jefferson and acres of Utah land Lincoln, TR is regarded as one of our in exchange for nation’s most beloved and visionary freeing up more presidents. He defended capitalism, than 1 million fought special interests, cut government acres for recreation spending and was committed to a strong and oil and gas national defense. But his most enduring development. RICK BOWMER/AP legacy is his work to conserve America’s natural and historic treasures. The launched their “Federal Land Action to make sure that public land that is future of that legacy now hinges on stop- Group” to do just that. desired by special interests becomes ping one man’s radical agenda. Using the language of sovereign citi- available for them to exploit for private zen extremists like Cliven Bundy, Bishop monetary gain. This is exactly the oppo- David Jenkins is the president claims his group will develop a legisla- site of the values espoused by Roosevelt, of Conservatives for Responsible tive strategy to “return these lands back who proclaimed, “I do not intend that our Stewardship, a national nonprofit to the rightful owners” — in other words, natural resources should be exploited organization. take them away from the American by the few against the interests of the people. many.” Writers on the Range is a syndicated service of That strategy was recently unveiled Congressman Bishop is on a mission. High Country News, providing three opinion col- in Bishop’s Utah “Public Lands Initia- He is seeking, in his own words, “mas- umns each week to more than 200 media outlets tive,” which he describes as “a massive sive change” that will dismantle more around the West. For more information, contact land transfer.” His stated objective is than 100 years of responsible American Betsy Marston, [email protected], 970-527-4898.

e High Country News DIVERSE WESTERN

AWARD High Country News is partnering with PLAYA to award a journalist of color the funding and space to work on a project of deep reporting and narrative journalism that covers an under-represented community in the American West.

In addition to editorial support, feature publication and payment, the winner will receive a four-week residency at PLAYA and a one thousand dollar travel stipend. Through a collaboration with HCN’s top-notch editorial team and the space to work provided by PLAYA, the Diverse Western Voices award seeks to expand national understanding of the American West’s ecological, social and political issues. More information at hcn.org/events/diverse-voices16

www.hcn.org High Country News 29 BOOKS

Nathaniel Rich’s Odds Against Tomorrow, a 2013 disaster thriller about consulting firms that profit from storms, the category grows every year. 2015 saw the publication of Paolo Bacigalupi’s The Water Knife (a novel that sprouted from “The Tamarisk Hunter,” a short story that first appeared in High Country News). And it’s Climate change hough the El Niño storms that re- now dominated by a “vast tooth-colored not just books: Filmgoers flocked to see cently flooded California might help superdune in the forgotten crook of the the latest iteration of Mad Max, disaster is fundamentally alleviate the state’s crippling drought, wasted West,” whose height rivals that porn set in Australia’s deserts. a public policy they won’t wash away the past four of Denali. The spreading sea of sand is Climate change certainly provides dry years. For nearly half a decade, the purportedly inhabited by a newly evolved fertile ground for art. Its worst symp- problem, and watery foundation of so many California menagerie: incandescent bats, land eels, toms — floods, fires, die-offs, insect thus the most institutions — almonds and salmon, sand krill. Mutant mole people roam plagues — make the Old Testament look weed and dairy, the Salton Sea and Los nuclear waste disposal sites. banal. You can hardly blame a novelist or valuable cli-ﬁ not Angeles itself — has wobbled under the Watkins’ evocation of the drought, screenwriter for using such phantasma- only transports weight of mismanagement, the national and society’s feeble attempts to amelio- goric hazards as plot devices. Yet climate hunger for fresh produce and, ultimately, rate it, unspools with chilling authentic- change is fundamentally a public policy and terriﬁes, it climate change. ity. Engineers drag glaciers down from problem, and thus the most valuable cli-fi illuminates and Claire Vaye Watkins’ new novel, Gold Alaska, erect vast retaining walls to repel not only transports and terrifies, it illu- Fame Citrus, captures the moment at airborne sand, drill “three thousand feet minates and instructs. As Bill Chameides, instructs. which that foundation finally collapses. into the unyielding earth, praying for former dean of Duke’s Nicholas School of Set in a drought-stricken near future, aquifer but deliver(ing) only hot brine.” the Environment, put it, “The thing that Gold Fame Citrus tracks a feckless young Los Angeles builds “new aqueducts, makes dystopian fiction so intriguing, at couple, Luz and Ray, who squat in a deeper aqueducts, aqueducts stretching least to me … is the social science aspect ruined mansion, drinking syrupy ration to the watersheds of Idaho, Washington, — the author’s vision of how humanity cola and paying exorbitant prices for Montana … half a million miles of palatial chooses to organize and cope in the post- black-market blueberries. Beyond their half-pipe left of the hundredth meridian.” apocalyptic world.” crumbling walls, nature lies in chaos: Gold Fame Citrus is the latest addi- And that’s precisely why Gold Fame “scorpions coming up through the drain, a tion to the nascent genre of “cli-fi”: science Citrus is so good, and so necessary. In pair of mummified frogs in the waterless fiction, often dystopian, that confronts the Watkins’ novel, climate change is not fountain, a coyote carcass going wicker in environmental and social impacts of cli- merely a backdrop against which to stage the ravine.” mate change. From Barbara Kingsolver’s Mad Max-style post-apocalyptic hijinks. When they attempt to flee, they find a 2012 Flight Behavior, a delicate study of Rather, how people “organize and cope” is landscape in arid shambles. The state is an errant flock of monarch butterflies, to the driving question. This is literature that goes beyond escapism to offer an alarming meditation on pending social havoc. The painful heart of the novel is its treatment of refugees. Like the late P.D. James’ novel Children of Men, another dystopic that grapples with large-scale human migration, Gold is not optimistic about our ability to compassionately manage the displaced. The refugees flee- ing California, slapped with the dehu- manizing label “Mojavs,” are forced into makeshift underground detainment cen- ters, packed into labor camps, and barred from relocating to the moist paradise of Gold Fame Citrus Washington. Bureau of Land Manage- Claire Vaye Watkins ment officers patrol the desert, locking up 352 pages, hardcover: wanderers like stray dogs. $27.95. If this sounds familiar, well, that’s the Riverhead Books, point. The Syrians now seeking sanctuary in some Western states were likely dislo- 2015. cated in part by climate change. A study published last year found that Syria’s conflict was exacerbated by a catastroph- ic drought that destroyed agriculture in that country’s breadbasket. As other nations’ climate refugees inevitably follow Syria’s, global warming will test not only the integrity of our infrastructure but the bounds of our humanity. And that’s where fiction proves its value: It activates our empathy by forcing us to inhabit an unfamiliar skin — the skin, say, of a refugee. Gold Fame Citrus exists to show us how — and how not — to treat the climate refugees to come, as well as the ones already knocking at our doors. NERRIDA PARFITT BY BEN GOLDFARB

30 High Country News February 8, 2016 ESSAY | BY LEATH TONINO Cursing the mountain ack in college, my buddy Chris and I were legendary for wonderful, mysterious, brain-bending notion that the so-called our orographic failures: When it came to not bagging inanimate world — the world of “objects” without human ears Colorado’s high peaks, we were the best. To put it nicely, — is in fact listening to what we two-leggeds say. The hunter Bour vision and verve outstripped our technical climbing ability. must take care not only to avoid offending deer and bear; he To put it less nicely, we were borderline, or perhaps treeline, should also watch his tongue in the presence of stones, stars, incompetent. Once, attempting a notoriously exposed ridge weather systems, plants and rivers. It’s a matter of manners, of traverse in December, Chris forgot both pants and boots; he had simple respect. his ice ax and crampons, but only bald sneakers for the feet and So, then: Was our failure in the alpine zone caused by blas- thermal underwear for the legs. Another time — OK, twice — phemy, or did it stem exclusively from our sloppy mountaineer- A misadventure we failed to reach our desired trailhead, let alone the base of the ing style? Perhaps more important: Did the sacred topography without swearing route we’d planned to ascend in “perfect style.” know we were just kidding? Regardless of whether we inked our names in the summit Another pal of mine often says that humor is the greatest is far less register or not, much fun was had. There was the bivouacking form of honesty. I’m inclined to agree, and to add that honesty enjoyable than in remote cirques, the soft fade of the alpenglow, the drinking is one of the core fibers in the muscle we call the heart. With- of cheap whiskey from a plastic bottle, the slurping of cold beef out honesty, there can only be a kind of rose-scented fake love, one loaded with stew from a can when somebody — who could that be? — spaced not a true love with warts, F-bombs, deprecating jokes and all. scatological out the stove. On occasion, shaggy white mountain goats paused I picture my girlfriend, how her eyes sparkle with glee as she to look at us, gazing deep. “Take me to the top,” I’d say to them, mirrors my idiocy back to me, my sister, my mom and dad –– references and making sure Chris overheard. “This guy in the thermal undies how what bonds us is our willingness to laugh at one another’s creative anatomy means nothing to me. Please, take me with you.” expense, and how that laughter becomes the sign of our connec- There was also vigorous, impassioned cursing, of course, tion, our appreciation. lessons. for a misadventure without swearing is far less enjoyable than These days, Chris is climbing glaciers in the Pacific North- one loaded with scatological references and creative anatomy west, earning his keep as some kind of businessman, living a lessons. When our less-than-heroic assault on some 14,000-foot life that does not involve me. So it goes. I mostly hike on my granite hulk was stymied by pissing rain, a misread map, or a own, in silence and without the aid of whiskey. From time to hangover from too much of the aforementioned whiskey, well, time, I will take a seat way up there above the trees, in the let’s just say that our mouths glowed neon with blue language. tundra meadows or amongst the jagged rocks. With my eyes Think of John Muir’s elegant syntax, only dirtier. closed and the sun on my face, I’ll listen back to those two dozen Actually, the foul talk tended to start well before we found missions we made into the glorious, rugged, ambition-smashing ourselves stuck on a sketchy dead-end ledge or avalanche-prone Colorado backcountry. What I hear in such moments of reflec- slope. As soon as we left campus to drive to the mountains, a tion, albeit filthily expressed, is a kind of pure passion: Crazy manic energy crackled in the car, and the sight of gorgeous yelling, cackling laughter, words unfit for print. I hear my dear ranges drew mock-disparaging comments from our lips. Chris es- old buddy leaning into the wind and sleet and danger, his voice pecially had a knack for belittling the horizon, building himself barely audible over the louder, larger voice of the storm. up by putting the earth down with taunts, challenges and macho At such moments I relax, at ease with the land. nonsense. By no means was it genuine hubris; it was playful, Then I stand up, stub my toe, and cuss so hard that the what basket-ballers call “trash talk.” Still, I cringe now to con- boulders shake in place, almost as though the mountain itself sider how ugly it would have sounded to an outside observer. were chuckling. That’s where this gets interesting — outside observer. In my study of 20th century nature writing and indigenous Leath Tonino’s writing appears in Orion, Sierra, The Sun, Men’s North American spiritual traditions, I find again and again the Journal, Outside and other magazines.

BROOKE WARREN

www.hcn.org High Country News 31 U.S. $5 | Canada $6

HEARD AROUND THE WEST | BY BEN GOLDFARB

OREGON hovercraft lies with the nation’s highest court. When Ammon Bundy and his not-so-merry band of militiamen asked supporters to send supplies IDAHO to their illegal camp at the Malheur National One Hailey, Idaho, homeowner recently awoke Wildlife Refuge, they were hoping for blankets, to find that her home had been the victim of a flashlights and canned food. Instead, outraged break-in — not by a burglar, but by a disorient- Americans bombarded them with a very differ- ed elk that crashed through a basement window ent sort of rations: a cornucopia of sex toys, most and got trapped in a downstairs bedroom. As the notably a device that … well, let’s just say it Twin Falls Times-News reports, deep snow had nearly rhymes with the name of the hero of The driven many elk out of the mountains and into Hobbit. The insurgents were neither amused the populous valley below. For some, the forced nor aroused. “Rather than going out and doing migration ended in disaster: The same night good, they spend all their money on hate, hate, as the Hailey home invasion, 10 elk died at a hate, hate,” occupier Jon Ritzheimer ranted in nearby cemetery after eating poisonous Japa- a Facebook video as he dramatically swept a nese yew. Fortunately, the basement intruder fresh shipment of erotica off the table and onto escaped death. Over the course of several hours, the floor, where, as far we know, it lies today. law enforcement officers used mattresses and Ritzheimer’s wrath merely, um, stimulated his flashlights to coax the bewildered ungulate up detractors: A Chicago-based designer promptly a flight of stairs and out the front door. Said sent the rebels 55 gallons of lubricant at a total one official, sounding rather like the parent of a cost of $1,193.81. Like a true patriot, the smutty MONTANA Praying for a haircut? SAVOY FOG IN THE MORNING/SMOOTH SCALPER BARBERS recent high school graduate: “The basement will philanthropist even sprang for expedited ship- need a good, deep cleaning, but we are glad it ping. worked out as well as it did.” word on whether Yellowstone is considering CALIFORNIA changing Old Faithful to “Dependable Geyser” NORTH DAKOTA What’s in a name? If you’re Delaware North, the to avoid future clashes of its own. It’s been a rough year for roughnecks in Williston, New York-based concessionaire that has run North Dakota. Oil prices continue to plum- hotels, restaurants and outdoor activities in ALASKA met, shutting down rigs and eliminating jobs. Yosemite National Park since 1993, the answer We humans are geniuses at hunting from vehi- In November, officials voted to evict so-called is $44 million. That’s how much the company cles: If it rolls, flies or floats, someone’s probably “man camps,” temporary housing units that is seeking for the intellectual property rights tried to shoot deer from it. But what if it … hov- many workers rely on. And now the cruelest it claims to hold on the monikers of landmarks ers? In 2007, moose hunter John Sturgeon took blow of all: The city commission plans to close like Yosemite’s Ahwahnee Hotel and Badger his hovercraft into Alaska’s Yukon-Charley Riv- two downtown strip clubs and relegate all exotic Pass Ski Area. The dispute erupted in 2014, ers National Preserve, where the futuristic con- dancing to industrial zones. As the Forum News when Delaware North lost a $2 billion bid to its veyance allowed him to skim over gravel bars Service reports, clients and employees at Whis- rival Aramark and insisted on being compen- with ease. The National Park Service, unim- pers and Heartbreakers are taking the news sated for place names on its way out the door. pressed, banned Sturgeon’s craft, arguing that hard. According to disc jockey Sam Stickley, his The park, for its part, values the names at a it would allow motorized trespass into sensitive club will have to lay off 30 dancers. One patron mere $1.6 million, reports the San Francisco areas. Sturgeon fought back, and, many years waxed melancholy as he stood in the frigid Bak- Chronicle. In this contract dispute, everyone and rulings later, his case has ended up before ken night, waiting for the doors to open. “First loses: Starting March 1, the park will rename the Supreme Court. As Greenwire reports, this the man camps,” he lamented, “and now this.” the contested locales, instantly rendering has big implications: Sturgeon’s allies, which countless maps and guidebooks obsolete. The include Alaska’s entire congressional delegation, Ahwahnee — a Native American name for the claim the feds lack jurisdiction over the 49th WEB EXTRA For more from Heard around the West, see Yosemite Valley — will become the (rather state’s navigable rivers. The Obama administra- hcn.org. gauche) Majestic; Curry Village will become tion, meanwhile, believes the Park Service can Tips and photos of Western oddities are appreciated and Half-Dome Village; and Badger Pass will apply its own rules on waters within its own often shared in this column. Write [email protected] or tag become Yosemite Ski and Snowboard Area. No lands. Now the fate of Sturgeon’s controversial photos #heardaroundthewest on Instagram.

High Landowners, like all of us, need to have some control Country and protection against possible damages to their News “ For people who care about the West. property. e sharing economy can High Country News covers the important issues and stories that are unique to the American West with a provide that. magazine, a weekly column service, books and a website, Shawn Regan, in his essay, “Want public access to private land? ere’s an app for that,” hcn.org. For editorial comments or questions, write from” Writers on the Range, hcn.org/wotr High Country News, P.O. Box 1090, Paonia, CO 81428 or [email protected], or call 970-527-4898.

32 High Country News February 8, 2016