ROSEBURG, Ore. — Rancher Kurt Spencer had a close encounter with the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation situation on Jan. 28.

Spencer, whose beef cattle business is headquartered in the Umpqua area near Roseburg, also owns and works four ranches in Harney and Grant counties.

While traveling north in his red pickup between his ranch near Frenchglen, Ore., at the base of the Steens Mountains and his ranch near Izee, Ore., in the Ochoco Mountains, Spencer and his wife, Veronica, traveled through two checkpoints that had been set up by law enforcement officers following the Jan. 26 killing of one refuge occupier and the arrest of several others. The rancher, whose Frenchglen ranch is just a half-hour drive south of the refuge headquarters and whose property borders refuge land, said the stop at the first checkpoint was “scary.”

“They were very professional and kind, but when you have guns kind of pointing at you, it is scary,” Spencer said in describing the scene. “They (officers) were very, very cautious. They asked us to get out and keep our hands free. They were FBI, but they looked like Army personnel. There were snipers around.

“It felt like a checkpoint in a foreign country,” he continued. “There was no room for error. They asked for ID and ran our license plate. They asked me if I had a gun and I told them I did and where it was in the rig. I told them to help themselves as far as looking, but they actually barely looked around. I guess they were comfortable with who we were after checking our IDs and plate.”

The couple were then allowed to drive on and at the checkpoint north of the refuge, their travel was barely interrupted. They assumed the first checkpoint had called ahead and given them the OK for the northern stop.

The 59-year-old Spencer, who grew up in Oakland, Ore., and has been a rancher for close to 40 years, said he has dealt with federal agencies in his business operations and has had mixed results. He has a grazing permit with the Bureau of Land Management for his Steen Mountains ranch and a permit with the U.S. Forest Service for his Ochoco ranch.

“I’ve been on both sides of the issue,” he said. “I basically have zero complaints with BLM. They’re been very, very good, easy to work with. The Forest Service has been more challenging. They have a different attitude. It is like they’re looking for you to make a mistake rather than helping you. BLM coaches me on what to do while the Forest Service is getting more finicky. But I’ve always done what they’ve asked me to do.”

The Bureau of Land Management is the land manager of 3.97 million acres, or 60.6 percent of Harney County. Private ownership totals 1.6 million acres, or 24.9 percent. The U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manage a combined 711,231 acres, or 10.9 percent. The state of Oregon owns 197,417 acres and other government agencies own the remaining 36,507 acres.

Spencer said he has talked to some of his ranching neighbors and he said there is most definitely a split between them on how they viewed the occupation of the refuge headquarters since Jan. 2. He described the people as good farmers, good ranchers and solid people, but with different opinions.

“Some know we have issues with the federal management, but they wanted the protesters to go home,” he said. “On the other side, there were ranchers going there (the refuge) and having dinner with them and taking them supplies.

“We have an issue, but these were protesters from a radical standpoint,” Spencer added. “The people from Harney County, from Oregon, from the U.S., we’re all in it for preservation of the land. We need to find common ground. We’ll do it.”

Spencer said the general consensus of the Harney County residents was that the issue would be resolved peacefully with no casualties.

“Everybody was dismayed that somebody actually got hurt,” he said. “We were hoping there would be a peaceful ending.”

Spencer said he hopes there will be some good that eventually comes out of the situation.

“Let’s sit down with some people and talk about some of these issues,” he said. “It hasn’t been a good situation, so let’s find some good in it.”

PORTLAND — Oregon’s snowpack looks good as February unfolds, but the hydrologist who tracks it says anything can happen in the next couple months.

Thanks to heavy rain, snow and chilly weather through January — normal Oregon winter weather, in other words — the snowpack draped upon the state’s mountains is well above average for this time year.

Even the dry southeast corner is 140 percent of normal, said Julie Koeberle, a hydrologist with the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service in Portland. The only region lagging is Mount Hood and the Willamette River basin, but even it is near or at normal levels for this time of year, Koeberle said.

February is typically a heavy snowfall month, and March and April storms can add more stored water, so at first glance the state is in good shape, Koeberle said.

Trouble is, there are no guarantees.

“There’s a lot left than cat happen,” she said. Snow could continue to accumulate, but an unusually warm February or a heavy rain that melts snow could flip the situation. “We could lose some of our snowpack,” Koeberle said.

Long-range forecasts indicate somewhat warmer weather over the next couple months, but they lack detail and a good snowstorm could pop up as well, she said.

“February is crucial because so much can happen,” she said.

PORTLAND — About 2,500 prospective marijuana growers, investors, marketers and other entrepreneurs are expected to attend the Cannabis Collaborative Conference Feb. 3 and 4 at the Portland Expo Center.

The conference features more than 90 exhibitors and 80 speakers, highlighted by a keynote address by Cliff Robinson, the former Portland Trailblazers basketball player who now counts himself a cannabis activist.

Robinson, who was nicknamed “Uncle Cliffy” during his 18-year NBA career, reportedly plans to open a marijuana store called “Uncle Spliffy.” A spliffy is a marijuana cigarette.

The conference’s technology presentations will include the latest in growing, marketing and security products.

Conference organizers tout cannabis as the “fastest-growing agricultural businesses in North America” as more states legalize recreational and medical pot use.

The District of Columbia and four states, including Washington and Oregon, have legalized pot for recreational use by adults. Twenty-three states allow medical marijuana use. Seven states will vote this year on legalizing adult recreational use.

A conference news release said 2016 “will be the tipping point in which a majority of U.S. states transition from cannabis prohibition to some form of regulated legal market.”

A couple of cannabis industry consulting companies, New Frontier and ArcView Market Research, recently released a State of Legal Marijuana Markets report that said the industry is growing at a rate of 30 percent annually.

In 2015 it reached a estimated value of $5.4 billion. “Adult use” sales of pot grew from and estimated $351 million in 2014 to $998 million in 2015, a 184 percent increase, according to the groups.

Despite the growth, there doesn’t appear to be much room for conventional farmers in the pot market. Seth Crawford, an Oregon State University instructor who specializes in pot policy studies, told the Capital Press in 2015 that the entire Oregon demand could be met on 35 acres in Southern Oregon, and the entire U.S. demand could be grown on 5,000 acres.

Crawford said marijuana probably is Oregon’s most valuable crop, worth close to $1 billion. But he said conventional farmers would swamp the market if they started growing it, and quality might suffer.

SALEM — Oregon farm regulators have proposed overruling an administrative judge’s findings that the emergency suspension of an aerial pesticide applicator’s license was unwarranted.

The looming decision marks the latest turn of events in the legal battle between the Oregon Department of Agriculture and Applebee Aviation, which faces steep fines for allegedly ignoring the agency’s order to stop spraying pesticides.

If ODA does overrule the administrative judge — who recently found that the emergency suspension wasn’t based on sufficient evidence — the dispute may end up before the Oregon Court of Appeals.

In September 2015, ODA yanked the pesticide license of Applebee Aviation after finding the company improperly trained its workers, didn’t provide them with the appropriate protective gear and otherwise “performed pesticide application activities in a faulty, careless or negligent manner.”

Ordinarily, pesticide applicators can continue operating while challenging a license suspension through the administrative process, but in this case, ODA found that an emergency suspension was warranted, which allowed the agency to yank the license before a hearing was held.

The emergency suspension is significant because ODA alleges that Applebee Aviation continued spray operations without a license, which led to the agency issuing $180,000 in civil penalties to the company and its owner, Mike Applebee.

In January, Senior Administrative Law Judge Monica Whitaker found that ODA did not prove that Applebee’s conduct posed a “serious danger to the public’s safety or health,” and thus the emergency suspension was unjustified.

The administrative judge said the agency’s findings were based solely on the testimony of one former Applebee employee, Darryl Ivy, whose photos and other testimony were not verified.

Ivy was admitted to a hospital after quitting his job in April 2015 and then went public with allegations of hazardous spraying practices against his former employer.

The ODA has now amended the judge’s proposed order, deleting paragraphs that questioned the authenticity of Ivy’s accusations and removing the recommendation that the emergency suspension be revoked.

Instead, the agency’s proposed order finds that license suspension was justified between Sept. 25 and Oct. 8 of last year.

Whether the emergency suspension was justified is important to Applebee Aviation, as it bears on the legality of spray operations during that period and the ensuing $180,000 in fines.

Bruce Pokarney, communications director for ODA, said he can’t comment on the substance of the dispute but said the agency will consider any objections by Applebee Aviation to the amended order before making it final.

ODA is seeking a five-year license suspension for the company, as well as the civil penalties, which will be weighed by an administrative judge on Feb. 17-18, he said.

Robert Ireland, attorney for Applebee, said the company will likely take the legal fight to the Oregon Court of Appeals if ODA insists the emergency license suspension was justified.

The suspension has forced Applebee Aviation to cease spraying operations, which has cost 30 people their jobs, Ireland said.

Applebee Aviation believes that Ivy’s testimony was not credible, which is why the ODA did not call him as a witness under oath, he said.

Ireland said the ODA had the legal right to overrule the administrative law judge’s findings, but the extent of the changes was an abuse of its authority.

“They’re covering their tracks on a poor investigation,” he said.

Retirement didn’t last long for Paulette Pyle.

The longtime legislative advocate and grass-roots organizer for Oregonians for Food and Shelter has been hired by Gallatin Public Affairs, a Portland-based lobbying group. The company announced Pyle’s hiring Feb. 1.

Pyle spent 35 years with OFS before announcing her retirement in 2015. In November, she was named the Oregon Agri-Business Council’s 2015 Ag Connection of the Year Award and was feted at the group’s annual Denim & Diamonds awards dinner and auction.

In announcing Pyle’s hiring, Gallatin President Dan Lavey said her passion for the people and places of the rural Northwest is unmatched.

“She is a relentless advocate for America’s natural resource communities. Everyone wants Paulette on their side,” Lavey said in a prepared statement.

Pyle will divide her time between Gallatin’s Oregon and Idaho offices, the company said in a news release.

“My heart and love is with farmers, ranchers, loggers, foresters, fishermen and anyone who makes a living from the land in the Pacific Northwest,” Pyle said in a prepared statement.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A federal judge is expected to consider whether the leader of an armed occupation of a national wildlife refuge should remain in jail, even as the standoff that began a month ago continues to roil a rural community in eastern Oregon.

Lawyers for Ammon Bundy say he should be let go with a GPS monitoring device and with orders that the Idaho resident should not leave the state except for court appearances. Mike Arnold and Lissa Casey said in documents filed Sunday that government prosecutors failed to provide “clear and convincing evidence” those steps would not suffice.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Stacie Beckerman said last week that Bundy, 40, presents a danger to the community and he might fail to return for future court proceedings. Beckerman said Bundy repeatedly ignored federal demands to leave the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and she had little confidence he would comply with orders to show up in court.

U.S. District Court Judge Michael W. Mosman is expected to consider the matter Tuesday, when he also weighs the government’s challenge to the potential release of another member of the armed group, Joseph O’Shaughnessy.

Bundy and O’Shaughnessy are among 11 people arrested in connection with the standoff that began Jan. 2, when the group called federal land restrictions burdensome and demanded the government turn over public lands to local control. Only one, Shawna Cox, has left jail.

Bundy was arrested Jan. 26 during a traffic stop, where police shot and killed Arizona rancher Robert “LaVoy” Finicum during a confrontation.

Four people remain at the refuge, surrounded by authorities. On Monday hundreds of people gathered outside the courthouse in Burns, Oregon, both to protest and support the armed occupation.

People upset over Finicum’s killing held signs and chanted at the Harney County Courthouse. They want federal officials to leave the area.

Another large group staged a rally at the courthouse in support of law enforcement and government officials. They too held signs and shouted, “Stand down, leave our town.”

Since his arrest, Bundy has repeatedly urged the four people remaining at the refuge to go home. However on Monday Bundy’s father, Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, sent a certified letter to the Harney County sheriff saying all federal and state police should be removed from Harney County and that the refuge should be placed under local control.

Cliven Bundy was involved in a high-profile 2014 standoff with the government over grazing rights.

The holdouts at the Oregon refuge include David Fry, who has posted updates to the YouTube channel “DefendYourBase,” which the group has used frequently to release information. Fry has said the four want assurances they won’t be arrested and demand pardons for everyone involved.

Bundy’s attorney has said Bundy didn’t recognize Fry’s name and that he wasn’t a core member of the group. The other holdouts are Jeff Banta and married couple Sandy Anderson and Sean Anderson.

Those already arrested face a felony conspiracy charge of using intimidation to prevent federal employees from their work at the refuge.

Bundy told the judge Friday that he loves the United States and believes government plays an important role, particularly in providing national security. He said he respected the judge’s authority and would be back for all court proceedings.

Beckerman said Bundy and other occupiers made threatening comments during the standoff, and she was concerned he might take over another government building if released.

She ruled that Cox could leave jail — with GPS monitoring — but only after the remaining occupiers leave the refuge. Cox’s public defender, Tiffany Harris, opposed that stipulation, and the Utah woman was released from jail shortly before midnight Friday.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Lawyers for the leader of the armed standoff at an Oregon wildlife refuge have appealed a judge’s decision to keep him in jail pending trial.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Stacie Beckerman said Ammon Bundy presents a danger to the community and the Idaho resident might fail to return for future court proceedings.

Bundy’s lawyers said in documents filed Sunday that their client should be released with a GPS monitoring device and orders he not leave Idaho except for court appearances.

U.S. District Court Judge Michael W. Mosman is expected to hear the matter Tuesday, when he also considers the government’s challenge of the release of another member of the armed group, Joseph O’Shaughnessy.

Bundy and O’Shaughnessy are among 11 people arrested. Only one — Shawna Cox — has left jail.

BURNS, Ore. (AP) — Four people occupying an Oregon wildlife refuge held their position Saturday and posted live videos that reveal their hyper-vigilance against federal officials who they fear may try to move them out to end the month-long standoff.

The jailed group’s leader, Ammon Bundy, and 10 others who were arrested earlier in the week remained in custody. Through his lawyer, Bundy on Saturday again called on the remaining occupiers to leave.

During one early morning video posted by a man identified as David Fry, the armed occupiers express concerns about nearby aircraft, and Fry gets jumpy when he believes he hears gunshots near the entrance.

“False alarm,” he then said after realizing the noise came from a generator or some other type of equipment.

“We’re not dead yet,” he said, repeating a theme that he and others have expressed through the weeks of the occupation. They’ve said they will only leave if given immunity from prosecution and are ready to die defending their position.

The FBI has said it’s trying to resolve the situation peacefully.

Meanwhile, some residents of the nearby town of Burns, Oregon, say they are sick of the disruption to their lives.

“We just want to go back to the way we were,” said Barbara Ormond, who owns a quilt store in downtown Burns, on Saturday. “We want everyone to leave us alone.”

While the standoff has led to filled-up hotels and restaurants, others say the conflict is upsetting to residents and pitting neighbor against neighbor as people have opposing views.

“It’s tearing the community apart,” said Bonnie Angleton, who owns a gift shop downtown. “I care about the people who live here.”

Kate Marsh, an artist in town, said many residents work for the government, while many others have their livelihoods depend on government agencies.

“There is some dissension in the community,” Marsh said.

Court documents against the 11 occupiers under arrest show FBI agents have scrutinized social media postings, interviews and online talk shows that have been during the standoff that began Jan. 2.

Authorities say Bundy, the principal leader of the group that seized the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, and others used the social media and other platforms to summon recruits to join their takeover.

Bundy and several other jailed leaders appeared Friday in federal court in Portland, where a judge denied their release. U.S. Magistrate Judge Stacie Beckerman said Bundy, his brother Ryan Bundy and Ryan Payne pose a danger to the community, and she is concerned they would not follow orders to return to Oregon for criminal proceedings.

The only woman arrested so far in the standoff, Shawna Cox, will be allowed to go home while her case makes its way through the court system. But Beckerman said that won’t happen until after the armed occupation ends.

Ammon Bundy’s lawyer, Lissa Casey, said her client is not aligned with those remaining at the refuge near Burns and he wants to go back to his family.

“He is done in Harney County,” she said.

Bundy and his followers took over the refuge to demand that the federal government turn public lands over to local control. They have complained about what they say are onerous federal rules governing grazing and mining rights across the West.

Court documents detail some of the evidence against the occupiers. The charges against the defendants say the refuge’s 16 employees have been prevented from reporting to work because of threats of violence.

A criminal complaint filed earlier this week makes reference to an online video that showed Bundy saying the group planned to stay for several years. He called on people to “come out here and stand,” adding: “We need you to bring your arms.”

A video posted Jan. 4 showed another defendant, Jon Ritzheimer, saying he was “100 percent willing to lay my life down.”

In a video posted a day later, Ritzheimer talked about Robert “LaVoy” Finicum and other occupiers taking up a “defensive posture” at the refuge.

Finicum was killed Tuesday night in a confrontation with the FBI and Oregon State Police on a remote road. Bundy and four others were arrested during the encounter.

At one point, a couple of dozen ranchers and other protesters were holed up at the refuge, but they began clearing out after the arrests and killing.

Lawyers for Ammon Bundy said they have recorded a phone call with their client telling the four people remaining at the refuge that it is “his authentic desire for them to stand down.”

In a statement Saturday, attorney Lissa Casey says “that message has been communicated to the remaining four and there’s nothing further to be done on our end.”

The FBI on Thursday released a video showing Finicum’s death, to counter claims he did nothing to provoke his killing.

In the aerial video, Finicum is pulled over in his truck but then takes off in the vehicle and plows into a snowbank because of a roadblock. He gets out and has his hands up at first, then appears to reach toward his jacket pocket at least twice. He is shot and falls to the snow.

The FBI said a loaded handgun was found in the pocket.

In a statement, Finicum’s family said “based on the information currently available to us, we do not believe LaVoy’s shooting death was justified.”

Two men are under arrest and charges are pending against a third in the killing of a cow in rural Eastern Oregon.

A landowner reported on Jan. 15 the cow had been shot and partially butchered near Stanfield, Ore., according to Oregon State Police.

“A cow belonging to a local landowner had been shot and butchered sometime the previous night,” according to an OSP press release. “At the scene, troopers located the remains of an animal that had been partially butchered and left to waste.”

Troopers said they received a community tip that led to the arrests of Anthony Haigh, 21, of Stanfield, and T.J. Kestler, 20, of Hermiston, Ore.

Haigh was charged with first-degree theft, criminal mischief, criminal trespass while in possession of a firearm, aggravated animal abuse, interfering with agricultural operations and possession of a firearm by a felon, according to the press release. He was already in the Umatilla County Jail on unrelated charges.

Kestler was charged with first-degree theft, criminal mischief, criminal trespass while in possession of a firearm, aggravated animal abuse and interfering with agricultural operations.

Charges against a third suspect of first-degree theft, criminal mischief and second-degree criminal trespassing will be referred to the district attorney’s office, according to OSP.

— Carl Sampson

Nov. 16, 1921 - Jan. 27, 2016

Nov. 16, 1921 - Jan. 27, 2016

KENNEWICK, Wash. — The Northwest potato industry is still working to recoup its losses from last year’s work slowdown at West Coast container ports, leaders say.

Several regional and national industry leaders shared the outlooks for the year ahead during the Washington-Oregon Potato Conference in Kennewick, Wash.

Blair Richardson, president and CEO of the U.S. Potato Board, said the industry put additional money into recapturing market losses from the port slowdown. In 2015, exports dropped by 20 percent from October to June.

Following the increased effort to regain lost market share, exports increased by 19 percent during the July-November reporting period, he said.

“We still have ground to make up,” Richardson said. “We still have work to do, but compared to a lot of crops that had the same focus, they’re still flat or down. The potato industry did a really good job of actually engaging back with customers in those markets and regaining lost ground.”

Without container service to the Port of Portland — further fallout from the labor slowdown — farmers now have to send their products to the ports of Seattle and Tacoma, said Bill Brewer, director of the Oregon Potato Commission.

One farmer in Klamath Falls, Ore., told Brewer he could make a round-trip a day to Portland, but can only make three trips a week to Seattle.

“That’s the type of change it has made,” Brewer said. “They have additional miles, hours and freight rate, all of those things. It just creates more problems.”

At least 50 percent of Oregon potatoes are exported internationally, and 90 percent go out of the state, Brewer said.

“We have to have ports and they have to be able to run efficiently,” he said.

Other topics leaders discussed during the conference included:

• The Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement is not likely to be approved before the presidential election, said National Potato Council CEO John Keeling. The TPP debate will likely continue into 2017, Keeling said.

• The Environmental Protection Agency is pushing for new procedures to review pesticides, designed to get old pesticides off the market, particularly organophosphates, Keeling said.

“If they are able to get away with that, basically just change policy on a whim without going through due process and allowing us the opportunity to comment in a substantive way, it will be very bad for us in the long term,” Keeling said.

• Brewer and Washington State Potato Commission executive director Chris Voigt both said research is a priority for growers.

Voigt said soil health and investigating the claims of biological products are areas of emphasis.

• Keeling said the industry would learn to work with whoever is elected the next president.

“We’ll take who we get, who you send us, and do the best we can,” he said. “Things don’t always happen in the time you want in Washington, (D.C.), but if you are consistent, focused, committed and continue to be aggressive on those issues, you can get them done over time.”

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Ammon Bundy and his followers made ample use of social media and videos to summon armed recruits to join their takeover of a wildlife refuge and to declare their readiness to stand their ground. Now federal authorities are using the occupiers’ own words against them.

Court documents filed against the 11 occupiers under arrest show that FBI agents have carefully scrutinized social media postings, interviews and online talk shows that were broadcast from the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge during the standoff that began nearly a month ago.

Bundy and several other jailed leaders appeared Friday in federal court in Portland, where a judge denied their release. U.S. Magistrate Judge Stacie Beckerman said Bundy, his brother Ryan Bundy and Ryan Payne pose a danger to the community and she is concerned they would not follow orders to return to Oregon for criminal proceedings.

Beckerman said she would release them only if the standoff ends. Four holdouts continued to occupy the refuge in the snowy high country near Burns, and they posted a YouTube video Friday demanding pardons for everyone involved in the occupation.

A speaker believed to be David Fry said he asked the FBI whether it was possible to “get out of here without charges,” but “they keep saying that’s not possible.”

Ammon Bundy’s lawyer, Lissa Casey, said her client is not aligned with those remaining at the refuge and wants to go back to his family in Nevada.

“He is done in Harney County; his message has been sent,” she said.

Casey said Bundy didn’t recognize Fry’s name and that he was not a core member of the group. Hearings continued for others who were apprehended, and the Bundys will be back in court next week.

Bundy and his followers took over the refuge Jan. 2 to demand that the federal government turn public lands over to local control. They have complained about what they say are onerous federal rules governing grazing and mining rights across the West.

Court documents detail some of the evidence against the occupiers, including a memorandum filed by prosecutors Friday arguing against releasing defendants before trial.

“As the armed group’s unrepentant leader, he (Ammon Bundy) has consistently and publicly expressed support for an armed occupation that has endangered, and continues to endanger, many people,” the document states.

A criminal complaint filed earlier in this week makes reference to an online video that showed Bundy saying the group planned to stay for several years. He called on people to “come out here and stand,” adding, “We need you to bring your arms.”

A video posted Jan. 4 showed another defendant, Jon Ritzheimer, saying he was “100 percent willing to lay my life down.”

In a video posted a day later, Ritzheimer talked about Robert “LaVoy” Finicum and other occupiers taking up a “defensive posture” at the refuge against a feared FBI raid.

“Right now underneath the tarp right there — LaVoy Finicum is sitting underneath the tarp, and he’s not going to let them come through,” Ritzheimer said in the video.

That raid never came.

Finicum was killed Tuesday in a confrontation with the FBI and Oregon State Police on a remote road. Bundy and four others were arrested during the encounter, and more followers were taken into custody by the next day.

At one point, a couple of dozen ranchers and other protesters were holed up at the refuge, but they began clearing out after the arrests and killing.

The FBI on Thursday released a video showing Finicum’s death, to counter claims he did nothing to provoke his killing.

In the aerial video, Finicum is pulled over in his white truck but then takes off in the vehicle and plows into a snowbank because of a roadblock. He gets out of his truck and has his hands up at first, then reaches toward his jacket pocket at least twice. He is shot and falls to the snow.

The FBI said a loaded handgun was found in the pocket.

An undisclosed number of state troopers involved in the shooting have been placed on leave pending an investigation, which is standard procedure.

The charges against the defendants say the refuge’s 16 employees have been prevented from reporting to work because of threats of violence.

Ammon Bundy is the son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who was involved in a tense 2014 standoff with the government over grazing rights. The younger Bundy’s lawyer said he “is not an anarchist; he believes in government.”

Judge Beckerman said at the Friday hearing: “I’m not worried about him leaving the country; I’m worried about him occupying another government building.”

BURNS, Ore. (AP) — The latest on an armed group that took over buildings at a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon:

9:30 a.m.

The FBI says four holdouts still are occupying a national wildlife preserve in southeast Oregon.

Bureau spokeswoman Beth Anne Steele said “nothing at all” happened overnight at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, and she wouldn’t discuss any strategic decisions planned for Friday.

The holdouts have been frequently posting to the YouTube channel “DefendYourBase” during the nearly four-week-old standoff but have not issued a video update since Thursday morning.

The three men and one woman have refused to leave without assurances they won’t be arrested.

Authorities have apprehended 11 other activists, including group leader Ammon Bundy, and have fatally shot another during a traffic stop.

The group came to Oregon to protest federal land restrictions and the prison sentences of two local ranchers convicted of setting fires.

———

7 a.m.

A federal judge says she will not release any of the people arrested in the standoff at an Oregon wildlife refuge while the occupation continues.

The Oregonian reports U.S. Magistrate Judge Stacie F. Beckerman made the comments Thursday during an initial court appearance in Portland for three of the 11 people arrested. The FBI said four people remained at the site late Thursday.

The hearing came shortly after the group’s leader, Ammon Bundy, repeated his call for the holdouts to go home. Bundy was arrested Tuesday in a confrontation with law enforcement that left one of the occupiers dead.

Bundy and several of the other occupiers have another federal court hearing scheduled for Friday afternoon.

BEND, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon irrigation district had to cancel plans to divert water for livestock amid concerns about low water levels in the Deschutes River.

The Bulletin reports that the Arnold Irrigation District canceled the “stock run” planned for this week. Such runs are typically held for short periods during winter months.

A request for comment from district officials was not immediately returned Thursday.

The district wrote on its website that a make-up stock run could be held if the river level rises. The next scheduled stock run is between March 14 and 18.

Oregon Water Resources Department regional manager Kyle Gorman says officials are still trying to replenish Wickiup Reservoir after the last year’s irrigation season. Less water is being released from the reservoir into the river.

BURNS, Ore. (AP) — The FBI has released video of the fatal traffic stop shooting of an armed occupier of a national wildlife refuge in Oregon.

The aerial video was shown at a news conference Thursday evening. Robert “LaVoy” Finicum, an Arizona rancher, was shot and killed by police Tuesday during the arrest of most of the armed group’s leaders on a highway north of the refuge.

The video shows a truck speeding toward a roadblock and hitting a snow bank. Greg Bretzing, special agent in charge for the FBI in Oregon, narrated the video and said that Finicum then got out of the truck.

The video appears to show the individual that got out of the truck reaching into his pocket. Bretzing said Finicum had a loaded handgun in his pocket and he “on at least two occasions” reached his right hand toward the pocket inside his jacket.

The video then shows the man being shot by officers.

Bretzing said Oregon State Troopers fatally shot Finicum after he reached toward his pocket.

Bundy followers had given conflicting accounts of how Finicum died. One said Finicum charged at officers, who then shot him. A member of the Bundy family said Finicum did nothing to provoke the officers.

The Deschutes County Sheriff’s department said in a statement that Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office performed an autopsy Thursday and confirmed the 54-year-old Finicum’s identity. The autopsy results were not released.

Authorities say the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office will be the lead agency on the police shooting investigation.

Group leader Ammon Bundy and seven other main figures in the takeover were arrested earlier in the week, most of them in the traffic stop Tuesday night that erupted in gunfire.

Bundy’s group seized the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Oregon on Jan. 2 to protest federal land use policies.

The jailed former leader of an armed group occupying an Oregon wildlife refuge reiterated his call for the last few holdouts to leave.

In a statement Thursday issued through his lawyer, Ammon Bundy said: “Turn yourselves in, and do not use physical force.”

Oregon has no shortage of people willing to grow and sell marijuana under its regulatory system for the recently legalized crop.

However, the state is facing a shortage of laboratories that can test marijuana products for the psychoactive chemical THC as well as prohibited pesticides and contaminants, as required by law.

At this point, 228 growers, 96 retailers, 38 processors, 31 wholesalers and one researcher have applied for marijuana licenses with the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, which oversees the regulatory tracking system for the crop.

The number of laboratories that have applied? Zero.

Complications and expenses, rather than a lack of interest, have prevented laboratories from enrolling in the system so far, said Steve Marks, OLCC’s executive director.

While no existing laboratories have yet been licensed by OLCC for marijuana testing, a handful have expressed interest in obtaining certification from the Oregon Health Authority, Marks said. Both agencies must approve labs for the tracking system.

Insufficient laboratories could prove to be a bottleneck in Oregon’s marijuana regulatory system, at least initially. The system will be in “good shape” if six or seven facilities are licensed, but will face challenges with only one or two, he said.

“We’re going to have enough eventually, it’s just how quickly they can do it,” Marks said.

Some laboratories that provide testing for industrial companies may be able to enroll without significant changes, but smaller facilities that are already serve marijuana producers may have to undertake significant upgrades, he said.

New equipment needed to comply with testing standards can cost $50,000 and needs to be calibrated for marijuana, Marks said. Labs will also need to train employees or hire more personnel to handle the added workload.

Medical marijuana dispensaries can currently sell the recreational crop from “grandfathered” grow sites, but retail marijuana sold to consumers must meet testing requirements by June 1.

Growers who want to produce recreational marijuana for retail sales must demonstrate they have water rights to grow the crop and obtain a statement from their city or county government attesting they meet land use requirements.

Producers can grow canopies of marijuana up to 10,000 square feet indoors and 40,000 square feet outdoors, but commercial marijuana production is currently prohibited by 76 cities and 19 of Oregon’s 36 counties.

BURNS, Ore. (AP) — Ammon Bundy and six others arrested for occupying a national wildlife refuge in Oregon had their initial court appearances Wednesday. A judge ordered them to remain in jail until at least Friday as authorities and Bundy himself worked to convince the few remaining people at the remote refuge to stand down.

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Q. What’s going on at the refuge?

A. Federal and state law enforcement authorities have blocked the roads leading to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, and said they made three additional arrests Wednesday afternoon and evening at those checkpoints after the men reportedly turned themselves in to agents. One of the armed protesters at the refuge, however, was uploading videos and livestreaming footage on his YouTube channel, “DefendYourBase.” Videos showed a member of the group using an excavator to dig a large hole or trench and later appeared to show people near a campfire at night. Some protesters left the refuge but it was believed perhaps a half-dozen remained late Wednesday.

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Q. What is group leader Ammon Bundy saying?

A. Mike Arnold, Bundy’s attorney, read a statement after his client’s initial court appearance Wednesday in which Bundy urged those still at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge to leave. Bundy asked the federal government to allow the people remaining at the refuge to depart without being prosecuted. Addressing those still holding out, Bundy’s statement said: “Please stand down. Go home and hug your families. This fight is now in the courts. Please go home.”

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Q. What’s next for those arrested?

A. So far, eleven people have been arrested, including Ammon and Ryan Bundy. They all face the same charge — conspiracy to impede officers of the United States from discharging their official duties through the use of force. However, charges could be added or dropped depending on the results of the FBI investigation, which is still underway. At Wednesday’s initial court appearance for seven of the suspects in Portland, U.S. Magistrate Judge Stacie Beckerman said they are a danger to the community and, with no ties to Oregon, flight risks. Beckerman set a detention hearing for Friday, giving the defendants a chance to argue for their release pending trial.

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Q. What about the person who was killed?

A. LaVoy Finicum, a 55-year-old rancher from Cane Beds, Arizona, died Tuesday after law enforcement officers initiated the stop near the refuge. It’s unclear what happened in the moments before his death. Authorities said shots were fired but have declined to say how many, or if Finicum or any of the other activists exchanged gunfire with officers. Finicum vowed a few weeks ago that he would die before spending his life behind bars. He was a prominent voice of the group that took over the southeast Oregon refuge Jan. 2 to protest federal land restrictions. His affable but passionate demeanor made him a popular subject for on-camera interviews.

BURNS, Ore. (AP) — Three members of an armed group occupying an Oregon wildlife refuge surrendered to authorities, officials said, hours after their jailed leader urged the remaining occupiers to go home.

The three arrests Wednesday came a day after the arrests of leader Ammon Bundy and seven others and the death of another occupier in a confrontation with law enforcement.

The group, which has included people from as far away as Arizona and Michigan, seized the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Jan. 2. They want federal lands turned over to local authorities.

The FBI and Oregon State Police said that 45-year-old Duane Leo Ehmer of Irrigon, Oregon, and 34-year-old Dylan Wade Anderson of Provo, Utah, turned themselves in around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. And 43-year-old Jason S. Patrick of Bonaire, Georgia, did the same a few hours later.

After Bundy made his first court appearance in Portland on Wednesday, his attorney, Mike Arnold, read this statement from his client: “Please stand down. Go home and hug your families. This fight is now in the courts.”

It was unclear whether the rest of Bundy’s followers still holed up at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge south of Burns were ready to heed his advice. It was believed perhaps a half-dozen remained late Wednesday.

Meanwhile, details began to emerge about the confrontation Tuesday on a remote highway that resulted in the death of Robert Finicum.

Bundy followers gave conflicting accounts of how Finicum died. One said Finicum charged at FBI agents, who then shot him. A member of the Bundy family said Finicum did nothing to provoke the agents.

An Oregon man who says he witnessed the shootout says he heard about a half-dozen shots but didn’t see anyone get hit, and that the shooting happened quickly — over maybe 12 or 15 seconds. Raymond Doherty told Portland TV station KOIN-TV that he was about 100 feet back and couldn’t see who specifically was shooting. But, he added, “I saw them shooting at each other.”

Authorities refused to release any details about the encounter or even to verify that it was Finicum who was killed.

FBI agent Greg Bretzing defended the FBI-led operation. “I will say that the armed occupiers were given ample opportunities to leave peacefully,” he said.

Also on Wednesday, a federal judge in Portland unsealed a criminal complaint that said the armed group had explosives and night-vision goggles and that they were prepared to fight at the refuge or in the nearby town of Burns.

Someone told authorities about the equipment on Jan. 2, the day the group took over Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, according to the document.

Bundy and the seven others are charged with felony counts of “conspiracy to impede officers of the United States from their official duties through the use of force, intimidation, or threats.”

The criminal complaint says the refuge’s 16 employees have been prevented from reporting to work because of threats of violence.

Federal law officials and Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward held a news conference on Wednesday in which they called on the rest of the occupiers to go home. There is a huge law enforcement presence in the region, and the FBI has now set up checkpoints outside the refuge.

Bundy followers took to social media to offer conflicting accounts of Finicum’s final moments.

In a video posted to Facebook, Mark McConnell said he was driving a vehicle carrying Ammon Bundy when he and a truck driven by Finicum were stopped by agents in heavy-duty trucks.

When agents approached the truck driven by Finicum, he drove off with officers in pursuit. McConnell said he did not see what happened next, but he heard from others who were in that vehicle that they encountered a roadblock.

The truck got stuck in a snowbank, and Finicum got out and “charged them. He went after them,” McConnell said.

Relatives of Ammon Bundy offered similar accounts, but they said Finicum did nothing to provoke FBI agents.

Briana Bundy, a sister of Ammon Bundy, said he called his wife after his arrest.

She said people in the two vehicles complied with instructions to get out with their hands up.

“LaVoy shouted, ‘Don’t shoot. We’re unarmed,”’ Briana Bundy told The Associated Press. “They began to fire on them. Ammon said it happened real fast.”

“Ammon said, ‘They murdered him in cold blood,”’ she added.

McConnell had a different perspective.

“Any time someone takes off with a vehicle away from law enforcement after they’ve exercised a stop, it’s typically considered an act of aggression, and foolish,” he said in the Facebook video.

Ammon and Ryan Bundy are the sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who was involved in a high-profile 2014 standoff with the government over grazing rights.

The group they led came to the frozen high desert of eastern Oregon to decry what it calls onerous federal land restrictions and to object to the prison sentences of two local ranchers convicted of setting fires.

In nearby Burns, 80-year-old Bev Schaff said the occupation has “split this town.”

“Some people are for it and some against it. But I think everyone is ready for it to be over,” Schaff said.

The showdown between federal agents and armed militants in Southeast Oregon will likely further polarize the public over the management of federal lands, experts say.

For some, the recent killing of an armed protester and arrests of several others will buttress the view they were extremist militants with unrealistic goals.

For others, the government’s actions and its siege of remaining protesters occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge will confirm fears of persecution by federal agencies.

Whether the standoff will ultimately lead to changes in the federal government’s oversight of the West’s vast public lands is also subject to varying interpretations.

Char Miller, an environmental analysis professor at Pomona College, said that Ammon Bundy and the other armed protesters miscalculated the public’s reaction to the occupation.

The national attention may have boosted the protester’s egos, but it also created a backlash against using the threat of violence to influence federal land policy, Miller said.

“What they’ve done is really hurt those with legitimate beefs with the federal government about how the land should be managed,” he said.

In the public’s mind, the protesters’ hostile tactics have been conflated with the goal of increasing local control over federal property, which weakens their case in the political arena, he said.

“If they wanted an uprising in Congress, they just made it that much harder,” Miller said.

The protesters’ actions won’t bolster attempts to transfer federal land to the states, which already had legitimacy among conservative lawmakers in multiple state legislatures before the refuge takeover, said Martin Nie, a natural resource policy professor at the University of Montana.

“They’re less of a spectacle and should be taken more seriously,” Nie said.

The philosophy of Bundy and his followers, meanwhile, is entangled with far-right interpretations of the U.S. Constitution and the power of county sheriffs but does not offer any serious proposals for changing federal land policy, he said.

“I don’t think this spectacle has helped that cause at all,” he said.

Among people who were uneasy about excessive federal authority, though, recent events will likely reinforce the notion that the government is out-of-control, said Mark Pollot, an attorney who is fighting federal agencies in court on behalf of deceased Nevada rancher Wayne Hage.

Left-wing protests, such as “Occupy Wall Street,” invaded private property and were more disruptive than the refuge standoff but did not elicit a similarly strong-armed reaction from the federal government, he said.

Pollot said that distrust of the government will particularly rise if there are indications that federal agents overreacted during the arrests and did not have to shoot the protesters’ spokesman, LaVoy Finicum.

If nothing else, the confrontation will show that Western land policy is more than a minor issue and deserves Congressional attention, Pollot said.

“It will add some weight to the debate,” he said.

On the other hand, there’s the risk of a shift away from the political and legal channels that critics such as Wayne Hage have traditionally used in the “Sagebrush Rebellion” against federal land policy, he said.

“I’m concerned there will be people who will now think that’s worthless,” Pollot said.

The restrictions placed on ranchers have gained visibility in Washington, D.C., Salem and Portland, but that doesn’t mean they will be changed, said Bruce Weber, director of Oregon State University’s Rural Studies Program.

It’s unclear how the existence of a perceived “martyr for the cause” will change the situation, Weber said.

“People who believe the Constitution prohibits federal ownership and management of those particular lands won’t change their minds,” he said.

Concerns about growing federal restrictions on public lands long predate the refuge occupation and will likely continue even if the current conflict is resolved.

Bob Skinner, a fifth-generation cattle rancher in the Jordan Valley area, heads a group opposed to the proposed Owyhee Canyonlands wilderness and conservation area, which would cover 2.5 million acres in Oreogn’s Malheur County.

The designation would severely regulate or prohibit grazing and other activities on an area that is bigger than Yellowstone National Park and covers 40 percent of Malheur County.

Skinner said his worst fear is that the arrests of several protesters and the death of Finicum will “activate” people who hold similar anti-government views.

Even so, the incident has brought more visibility to Western concerns over public land.

“I can’t help but think it’s brought some awareness to government over-reach, that might have some impact,” Skinner said.

Rep. Kurt Schrader, D-Ore., compared the standoff in southeast Oregon to the “Black Lives Matter” movement, which arose in reaction to conflicts between law enforcement and the black community.

“Rural America faces the same lack of recognition,” Schrader said.

There’s a “palpable sense” that government policy has focused on the economic welfare of urban areas while overlooking rural areas, he said.

As to the effect of the occupation on the federal land debate, Schrader said the impact is uncertain.

While people sympathize with the hardships faced in the rural West, the occupation has also shown they have no appetite for lawlessness, he said.

Schrader said he and other members of Oregon’s Congressional delegation are pushing to reform overly restrictive rules on grazing and logging while protecting the environment on federal property.

“The scales have tipped so far to the left that you can barely do anything there, it’s so cost-prohibitive,” he said. “We’ve got to change the federal policy.”