The Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon belongs to all Americans. The US Fish and Wildlife Service manages it for all of us to protect public use and habitat for millions of birds and animals. Armed right-wing militants broke into the Refuge Headquarters January 2nd and are threatening violence against any official or member of the public who approaches the Refuge. They have destroyed fences, pilfered official files, used public utilities, stolen federal vehicles, destroyed vegetation, trashed ancient native sites, and made threats to federal, state and county officials. Many of these acts are felonies.

They have disrupted life in nearby Burns, Oregon costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars a week. Many people have fled for their safety. The American public and our employees cannot enter our wildlife refuge.

We the signers of this petition call on Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and Oregon Governor Kate Brown to remove the militants from our Refuge using the National Guard or other decisive means, and make these individuals accountable in a court of law for their crimes at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Not taking action will encourage others to do the same on our public lands, endangering the public and natural resources for years to come.

America depends on the rule of law based on a full reading and understanding of the Constitution. We demand decisive law enforcement action to protect America's public lands from lawless radicals now and into the future.