-- Tim Puckett, the rancher whose cattle graze private rangeland adjoining the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, said he didn't give Ammon Bundy and his band of armed militants permission to enter the ranch Monday afternoon and
.
"I am very upset," Puckett told The Oregonian/OregonLive.
His ranch hands have already repaired the fence.
"They're not coming onto my place no more," he said of the militants. "If they do, I'm gonna have to do something about it. I don't want them going across my ground."
Puckett said he has never spoken to Bundy, the leader of a militant group that has occupied the refuge headquarters compound since Jan. 2. The militants are protesting the federal government's land-use policies, advocating for public property to be turned over to local ranchers and loggers.
Bundy, an Arizona businessman and son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, claimed that Puckett gave him permission to enter the ranch and that Puckett actually asked the militants to cut out the fence so his cattle could graze on more land - which is publicly owned refuge land.
Bundy said Wednesday evening that he did indeed get an OK from the property owners. He declined to identify them, but implied they were Puckett's sons.
"Mr. Puckett lives a long ways away and his sons live here and they run the ranch and as far as I know it's in their name," he said.
Puckett said the ranch is in his name - and his name only.
"Ammon Bundy, I'm sure, has the intelligence to find out who owns that land," he said.
Puckett acknowledged that one of his representatives at the ranch showed the militants where the fence was and allowed them on the property. But the representative did not give them permission to tear out the fence, he said.
"I guess that makes me responsible," he said.
The representative, he said, did not have the authority to speak on Puckett's behalf. He declined to say who it was.
Puckett said he "didn't know anything about it" until late Monday night.
"They didn't have my permission to do anything," he said.
Bundy and the group of militants used equipment owned by the
Fish & Wildlife Service to remove 20 to 30 yards of barbed wire fence installed by that agency. The stunt, covered by a wide array of media, was perhaps the militants' boldest move since overtaking the refuge. To the militants, agencies such as the Fish & Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management are symbols of federal government overreach.
Statement from rancher Tim Puckett
"As owner of the ranch that borders the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters, I would like to make it clear that I DO
condone nor did I ask for the protesters at the refuge to cut fences to allow my cows access to the refuge. The protesters are quoting a representative who did not have the authority to speak on my behalf.
"I have no grievances with the refuge or the
I have
grazing permits that I use each year, and I am a good steward of the land. I am a hay farmer, I DO
ON
TO
MY
I have been in Harney County for four years, in no way do I feel that I am entitled to the refuge for grazing. I was informed of the fence last fall prior to its construction, and it has not nor will it affect my cattle operation."
- Tim Puckett, Golden Rule Farms
Puckett, who has ranches in several locations and was traveling to Burns Tuesday from more than 100 miles away, said he never heard about the militants' plan to destroy the fence. He feels like he "got drawn into something that I had nothing to do with." He said he doesn't condone the militants' actions and never asked them to cut the fence.He said he has no beef with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
"I work with
" Puckett said. "I have no problem with them." He said government officials told him of their plans to erect the fence, which he said "has not nor will it affect my cattle operation."
"I am a good steward of the land. ... In no way do I feel that I am entitled to the refuge for grazing," he said.
Puckett, a hay farmer, said he agrees with militants that local ranchers Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son, Steven Hammond, were treated unfairly by the government when they were sent back to federal prison for setting fires that spread to public land.
"Whatever the people did to help them other than taking over the refuge, I was in favor of," Puckett said. "In my opinion, the Hammonds did get screwed."
The Fish & Wildlife Service installed the fence about three weeks ago to replace a fence that "went down a couple years ago in an ice storm," said agency spokesman Jason Holm. Bundy claimed on Monday that the fence was installed last year.
The land on the public side of the fence is managed by the agency, Holm said, for environmental and cultural reasons. Thirteen local ranchers have grazing permits on the land, and the purpose of the grazing is to remove invasive species rather than raising cattle for beef, Holm said.
"This is an immensely culturally significant site to Native Americans, in particular the Burns Paiute Tribe. ... Keeping cattle from walking over burial sites and from walking over important archeological sites is immensely important," Holm said.
The agency also ensures the land stays habitable for birds, sagebrush and other wildlife, Holm said. He added that the Fish and Wildlife Service has a good relationship with the surrounding landowners.
"It's been a refuge for 100 years," Holm said. "So we've had landowners around us and proximate to us for 100 years."
As for Puckett, he repeated that "I'm the one responsible" for Bundy entering the ranch.
"I own the property," he said. But, he added: "I guarantee there wouldn't have been no escort out to no fence if I'd have been there."
Mark Friesen of The Oregonian/OregonLive contributed to this report.
-- Luke Hammill and Fedor Zarkhin
lhammill@oregonian.com
503-294-4029
@lucashammill
fzarkhin@oregonian.com
503-294-7674
@fedorzarkhin