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IPFS News Link • Militia

Oregon refuge standoff opens another front in old 'Sagebrush Rebellion'

• http://www.miamiherald.com, By Michael Doyle

The standoff at an Oregon wildlife refuge is the latest, edgiest skirmish in a decades-old conflict over federal control of Western lands. It's been a war, not always bloodless, that's been fought in courts, on Capitol Hill and far out on the range.

Decades ago, the conflict was dubbed the "Sagebrush Rebellion." In the 1990s, conservatives provocatively cited a "War on the West." And with the federal government owning more than one-third of the land in states such as California, Idaho and Washington, future clashes are all but certain.

"There are problems with the federal bureaucracies, and people are going to chafe at changes in management practices," Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., said in an interview Wednesday. "That's been going on forever."


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