Here's an interesting article that details some of the motivations of the people who are doing this. 

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/...ge%2Fstory

 

BURNS, Ore. — B.J. Soper has seen the frustration building for years in this rural corner of Oregon.

The federal government owns more than half the land in the state, as it does across much of the West. It used to be routine for ranchers to get permits to graze cattle or cut timber or work mines — a way to make a living from the land.

Then came increasing environmental regulations, and the federal land became more for owls and sage grouse than for local people trying to feed their families, said Soper, 39, who lives 100 miles up the road in Bend.

 

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If you look at a map of the land that is owned by the government (or, as some like to put it, all the people of the United States), you can see that the federal government owns what looks like half or most of the land in some western states.  

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=map+of+f...kz7tjyw%3D

 

And as environmental regulations increase, people slowly get squeezed out of doing things they have done legally for decades. 

 

So, even if you don't agree with these people and want to call them terrorists and wackos, it is always helpful to try to understand their motivations.  

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