In the June 27, 2016, edition, Paul Larmer wrote about the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation: “Where were all the folks on the other side — the public-lands patriots — the people who say they cherish our country’s rare birthright of a vast landscape, accessible to all Americans, no matter where they live? So I emailed several conservation leaders, asking them whether they were going to the refuge to protest the protesters. ‘It might be best if everybody just lets the locals keep the pressure on these guys, or if the press pays a little less attention to them,’ one replied. …”
Letting the locals keep up pressure on the Bundys was far from sufficient. Whichever “conservation leader” said that to Mr. Larmer misses the mark by a mile. The current version of the Sagebrush Rebellion is far from emasculated.
Kierán Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, was there at Malheur during the Bundy Boys’ invasion. He confronted those terrorists. There were a half-dozen or so other public-lands patriots there, too. The chickenshits who stayed home did not walk their talk. Paul Larmer’s column really should have honored Kierán’s bravery and dedication.
Ricardo Small
Albany, Oregon and Tucson, Arizona
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Confronting the terrorists.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
