The public lands conservation community has long been wary of the existential threat to the nation’s public lands posed by a fringe group of right-wing crazies who seek to privatize public lands (perhaps via a brief period of state or county ownership).

This is the second part of a two-part examination of what “rural” really means in Oregon and how statistically insignificant (and in all likelihood to become more so) the rural population is today.

The Bundy band represents both an existential threat and an existential opportunity for America’s public lands. This is the fourth of four Public Lands Blog posts that examine the government mishandling of the Bundys, the Bundys’ legal troubles, the Bundys’ legal troublemaking, and the opportunities for the conservation community to apply political jujitsu on Bundy et al. to advance the conservation of America’s public lands

The Bundy band represents both an existential threat and an existential opportunity for America’s public lands. This is the third of four Public Lands Blog posts that examine the government mishandling of the Bundys, the Bundys’ legal troubles, the Bundys’ legal troublemaking, and the opportunities for the conservation community to apply political jujitsu on Bundy et al. to advance the conservation of America’s public lands.

The Bundy band represents both an existential threat and an existential opportunity for America’s public lands. This is the second of four Public Lands Blog posts that examine the government mishandling of the Bundys, the Bundys’ legal troubles, the Bundys’ legal troublemaking, and the opportunities for the conservation community to apply political jujitsu on Bundy et al. to advance the conservation of America’s public lands.

The Bundy band represents both an existential threat and an existential opportunity for America’s public lands. This is the first of four Public Lands Blog posts that examine the government mishandling of the Bundys, the Bundys’ legal troubles, the Bundys’ legal troublemaking, and the opportunities for the conservation community to apply political jujitsu on the Bundy gang to advance the conservation of America’s public lands.

The American system of justice may be the best in the world, but it’s not perfect. In the matter of seven defendants who—by force of arms—illegally occupied and caused damage to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Oregon, justice was not served. A view of the Steens Mountains from the Buena Vista Overlook located in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Image source: Wikipedia

The Bundys and their ilk disdain the federal government and deny it owns the federal public lands in the West. While they hate the federal government for its size, its actions and its policies, they nonetheless revere the United States Constitution. They believe the federal government (executive, legislative and judicial branches) has run amok from the intent of the founding fathers.