FEBRUARY 3, 2016
Storm Over Rangelands: Boise Land Seizure Conference and the Spectacle of Lawlessness at Malheur
by KATIE FITE
Ammon Bundy had planned to appear at Utah Freedom’s “Storm Over Rangelands” Conference in Boise on Saturday. Storm Over Rangelands is the title of Sagebrush Rebel Wayne Hage’s 1990s book.
I was present at the surreal ceremony honoring Adrian Sewell, a rancher from New Mexico who “renounced” his grazing permit at Malheur, three days before the Bundy arrest. Lavoy Finicum stated at the ceremony that ranchers would be protected if they had trouble with the Feds – implying militia intimidation.
It was also announced that an Oregon rancher was to similarly renounce his permit in Jordan Valley, Oregon (on the Idaho line) on Friday, which was a day before the Boise conference. Instead of a triumphant gallop through Jordan Valley and taking Boise by storm, Bundy’s free roaming days ended on the road to John Day just a few days before. He was arrested heading to instigate trouble in Grant County, and LaVoy Finicum was killed.