February 14, 2016

On a cold Saturday afternoon in January, a group of armed militants seized an isolated federal bird refuge in southeastern Oregon. And they refused to leave. The loosely aligned group of ranchers and self-styled militiamen from at least 10 states immediately began to fortify their position inside the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Almost none of the occupiers had Oregon roots. But it was here, about 30 miles from the small town of Burns, that they had chosen to make a stand against the federal government.

Index

Photos

|

Videos

|

All Stories

The armed occupation of the refuge would span 41 days. Some days were so mundane it appeared the standoff would never end. Others were packed with incredible drama and intrigue. The Oregonian/OregonLive's coverage of the standoff included more than 350 articles, about 2,500 photographs and 110 videos. This chronology captures the highlights. To see the full coverage go here.

Jan. 2: An estimated 300 marchers, militants and local citizens alike parade through Burns in support of father and son ranchers preparing to report to federal prison to serve out their arson sentences. Within minutes of the rally's peaceful end, a splinter group of armed protesters takes over the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, about 30 miles south of Burns.

An estimated 300 marchers parade along Court Avenue in Burns, Jan. 2, 2016 in support of the Hammonds.

Among the occupiers is Ammon Bundy, son of Cliven Bundy, and two of his brothers. The militants claim to have as many as 100 supporters with them. The wildlife refuge, managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is closed for the holiday weekend. Duncan Evered was working alone at the Malheur Field Station on the wildlife refuge when his cellphone buzzed to life. "Duncan, you need to get out of there now because you have an armed militia down the road," said the caller, a federal law enforcement officer.

The catalyst was the convictions and re-sentencing of Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son Steven. The Harney County ranchers had been found guilty of arson for setting fires on federal land in 2001 and 2006, and a federal judge sentenced the elder Hammond to a three-month term and the younger one to a year in prison.

After an appeals court overturns the Hammonds' original sentences, a federal judge issues new, five-year prison terms to each man, with credit for time served.

Militants throughout the West begin assembling in Burns, a community of 2,800 in Harney County, to protest the pending re-imprisonment of the Hammonds over what they contend are unjust federal land policies.

Jan. 3: Ammon Bundy, the leader of the wildlife refuge occupiers, says the group has no intention of violence unless the government acts against them.

Ammon Bundy is the leader of the group occupying the wildlife refuge. the 40-year-old son of Cliven Bundy, whose 2014 standoff with federal officials in Nevada over $1 million in unpaid grazing fees and penalties made national news. It is his first time in the spotlight as an anti-government protest leader.

Bundy says in several interviews that the occupiers want federal lands returned to Harney County ranchers and loggers. He, Ryan Payne and other occupiers insist that under the Constitution the federal government has no legal right to Harney County land.

Dwight Hammond Jr. outside his home, Jan. 2, 2016.

Jan. 4: Dwight and Steven Hammond report to federal prison in California but say they will seek clemency from the president. Years before their 2012 arson convictions -- for setting fires on federal land adjacent to their ranch south of Burns -- the Hammonds had a history of making death threats against officials, a federal agent tells The Oregonian/OregonLive.

Sheriff Dave Ward asks the militants to go home.

Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward

"You said you were here to help the citizens of Harney County," he says. "That help ended when a peaceful protest became an armed and unlawful protest."

Federal officials, having learned from the sieges at Waco, Texas, and Ruby Ridge, Idaho, in the early 1990s, take no immediate action, choosing a wait-them-out approach.

The desolate beauty in mid winter in and around the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Jan. 5, 2016. Harney county is home to approximately 7,700 residents, most of whom live in Burns and Hines.

Jan. 5: Ammon Bundy tells reporters that occupiers won't stand down until the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge becomes privatized. "We have been very active in forwarding our plan and assisting the people of Harney County in claiming and using their rights," he says. Once that happens, "then we will go home."

Arizona rancher LaVoy Finicum holds a rifle as he sits in a rocking chair to guard the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016.

Jon Ritzheimer, a 32-year-old motorcycle mechanic from Arizona becomes an Internet star thanks to his video dispatches from the refuge. The onetime U.S. Marine Corps reservist's tearful, nearly 14-minute clip explaining why he would miss Christmas with his daughters snags more than 360,000 views on YouTube.

Sheriff Ward, attempting to reassure his community and the nation, tells The Oregonian/OregonLive that steps are in motion to end the occupation. "There are things being done," he says. "It's not visible to the public."

Oregon Congressman Greg Walden delivers an emotional speech on the House floor urging lawmakers to try to understand why rural residents feel so oppressed. "There's a better solution here," he says. The video goes viral.

Vestiges of unease begin to surface in Burns, including signs urging the occupiers to go home. "It's destroying our community," says Lola Johnson, 36, who works at a local store.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown calls for a "swift resolution" to the conflict and says Oregon State Police have offered up more troopers to assist county and federal authorities.

Burns Paiute Tribal chair Charlotte Rodrique.

Jan. 6: Leaders of the Burns Paiute Tribe, which once occupied a chunk of land including the wildlife refuge, weigh in, telling the militants to "get the hell out." Says one tribal member: "We as a tribe view that this is still our land no matter who's living on it."

Cowboys, mothers, retirees and dozens of other Harney County residents praise the protesters for drawing attention to federal land management issues and government overreach during a community meeting. Nonetheless, they want them to leave. "You don't get to come here from elsewhere and tell us how to live our lives," the sheriff tells the audience.

A scuffle breaks out between occupiers and an outside group, sending one man to the hospital with a black eye.

Jan. 7: A week into the standoff, Sheriff Ward meets face to face with the occupation leader. "I'm here to offer safe escort out," he says. Later, Ammon Bundy tells reporters that the militants won't leave until federal lands are returned to the residents of Harney County. We will remain, he says. "That could be a week, that could be a year."

Police disconnect the electricity to a building in Frenchglen at the far end of the nature reserve to prevent militants from moving to a new facility.

Ryan Bundy.

Gov. Brown demands that the protesters "decamp immediately."

Many of the Oregon occupiers stood with Cliven Bundy in 2014, a standoff that yielded no criminal charges. Such inaction was likely to have consequences, a government report warned, and is likely to spawn more violence and armed standoffs, especially against government officials and law enforcement.

Ryan Bundy, the eldest of Cliven Bundy's 14 children, is among the most visible of the occupiers and memorable for his asymmetric face, the result of being hit by a car when he was 7. He and his family have come to embody the nation's swiftly growing patriot movement.

Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer, speaking on the House floor, condemns the militants in Oregon as "armed thugs" and calls their occupation a "side show."

One of the anti-government protesters stands watch in the lookout tower at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Early in the occupation armed protesters began occupyipng the watch tower around the clock. The high vantage point allowed them to see for miles around the refuge.

Jan. 8: Ammon Bundy reiterates that he and his followers have no plans to leave.

Members of the Harney County Committee of Safety, a local group previously affiliated with Ammon Bundy, indicate they now want him to leave. The group's name references the "committees of safety" that served 18th-century revolutionary interests before the U.S. won independence from Great Britain.

LaVoy Finicum walks with family members, Ammon and Ryan Bundy, and other occupiers, Jan. 8, 2016.

An Idaho group that stands for "freedom, liberty and the Constitution" descends on the Harney County wildlife refuge to "secure a perimeter" and prevent "a Waco-style situation."

Members of the Idaho 3% gathered at the Harney County Courthouse, Jan. 9, 2015. Eventually, Sheriff Dave Ward came out to speak with the group.

Jan. 9: The militants appear ready to settle in for the long haul when a rifle-toting "security detail" arrives at the compound. Members of the Pacific Patriots Network emerge from their cars and trucks carrying rifles and sidearms and clad in military attire. Their leader, Brandon Curtiss, says they've come to "de-escalate" the situation by providing security for their brethren. But their presence raises concerns that law enforcement's low-key response to the situation might backfire.

The FBI sets up a staging area at Burns Municipal Airport, blocking the entrance to a U.S. Bureau of Land Management base that's used to fight fires during the summer.

Militants come and go at the wildlife refuge headquarters. A few people describe themselves, in videos from the compound, as sympathetic visitors. But the Bundy brothers -- Ammon, Ryan and Mel -- and their lieutenants remain constant. The inner circle includes Robert "LaVoy" Finicum, Ryan Payne and Jason Patrick, among others.

A flag is planted in a pile of dirt where armed militants occupy the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Jan. 10, 2016.

Jan. 10: More and more outsiders, many of them armed, begin flocking to Harney County. Many are well-meaning and want to help bring the occupation to a close. Some revel in the media attention. Others are inspired by the militants and want to join the protest. Few, if any, have been welcomed by law enforcement. "There's armed militia, and they're in our community," one frustrated official grumbles.

David Nowland of the Idaho 3% was among those who helped clear snow and ice away from fire hydrants around Burns, Jan. 10, 2016, after Sheriff Dave Ward had suggested the chore as a way they could help out around the community.

In a bizarre turn of events, a state legislator from outside Harney County arrives in Burns with out-of-state politicians in tow to meet with protesters. Local law enforcement and county officials tried to wave off Rep. Dallas Heard, a Roseburg Republican elected in 2014, from making the trip. But he came anyway, along with a posse of elected officials from Washington, Idaho and Nevada.

It seems to me that "we now have a state representative who will not listen to local input," Harney County Judge Steven E. Grasty observes. "And isn't that the same thing that our armed visitors are saying about the federal government? It's the same thing."

Burns students return to school Monday, Jan. 11, 2016, after schools were closed in response to armed militants at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

Jan. 11: Schools reopen in Burns. All schools in Harney County School District 3, serving 802 students, were closed last week.

But normalcy does not magically reappear: The school district office downtown remains closed to the public, surrounded by yellow tape and law enforcement. The former junior high school is being used as a police command post. And each school in the district tightens security.

The occupation of the wildlife refuge may have looked spontaneous but was anything but. It was a plan two months in the making, hatched by Ammon Bundy and Payne, a militia leader from Montana. They strategized and cased federal offices in Burns as well as the wildlife refuge even as a wider network of anti-government groups and community members rejected taking any action stronger than holding a public rally.

Robert "LaVoy" Finicum and other militants destroy a portion of a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service fence, Jan. 11, 2016, saying they received permission from the rancher whose cattle graze on private land adjoining the wildlife refuge.

In front of numerous journalists, occupiers destroy a portion of a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service fence, saying they received permission from the rancher whose cattle graze on the private land adjoining the wildlife refuge.

The militants remove barbed wire - Bundy with only his bare hands - then use an excavator adorned with the Fish and Wildlife Service's logo to pluck stakes from the ground.

"This will help them out, being able to run their ranch like they have in the past," Ammon Bundy said.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service condemns the militants' actions.

Ryan Bundy, brother of Ammon Bundy, stands next to an opening created by occupiers in a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service fence.

Sheriff Ward calls out the militants for harassing and intimidating law enforcement and urges residents to take precautions: Be aware of vehicles following yours; don't open the door for strangers; watch for unfamiliar vehicles parked near home.

Jan. 12: A self-proclaimed "U.S. Superior Court judge" who has participated in property rights protests in other states arrives in Burns with plans to convene a "citizens grand jury" that he says will review evidence that public officials may have committed crimes. Bruce Doucette, 54, tells The Oregonian/OregonLive that he made the trip from Denver at the request of Harney County residents.

David Fry drives his 80s-vintage Lincoln from near the lookout tower towards the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on January 12, 2016. Fry, 27, made a website supporting the occupation, defendyourbase.net, which he said he hoped would be used for following developments at the refuge.

David Fry. a 27-year-old from Ohio who has posted "#Pray4ISIS" on his Google+ page, creates a website supporting the standoff. He characterizes his Google+ page -- which also includes the hashtag "#HitlerWasRight" and the phrase "obama needs to be hung after being found guilty for TREASON!!" -- as a venue for his rants. "The media is blowing this up and making me look like a bad guy, but I was just being sarcastic," he says. "I was being very offensive. That was the goal, to be very offensive."

As the days drag on, frustrated Harney County residents and other observers grow impatient: Why doesn't law enforcement take some action?

The anti-government protesters issue a plea for snacks and supplies, and America responds. But many of the care packages landing at the commandeered wildlife refuge aren't exactly meant to provide aid and comfort. Ritzheimer, the Arizona motorcycle mechanic, takes to Facebook to register his displeasure at the "abundance of hate mail."

Harney County residents tell the armed outsiders to go home and express fear for their personal safety during a community meeting that exposes deep rifts within the community.

Robert "LaVoy" Finicum leads media on tour of buildings they believed were left in a state of disrepair by refuge managers, Jan. 12, 2016. They proceeded to clean and organize the buildings in an effort to leave them in better shape than before.

Jan. 13: Tim Puckett, a rancher whose cattle graze private rangeland adjoining the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, says he didn't give Ammon Bundy and followers permission to enter the ranch and destroy a publicly owned fence.

"I work with BLM," Puckett says. "I have no problem with them."

"I am a good steward of the land. ... In no way do I feel that I am entitled to the refuge for grazing."

Pucket says he had his ranch hands repair the fence. "They're (occupiers) not coming onto my place no more."

Tim Puckett's crew make repairs to the public fence,Jan. 13, 2016, that was cut by militants two days earlier.

Harney County tells an Ammon Bundy-affiliated group of locals that it can't hold a planned community meeting at the county-owned fairgrounds. The meeting location has become a wedge between the Harney County Committee of Safety and the county government, once loosely allied in their desire for Bundy to leave town.

Duane Ehmer, 45, is a welder from Irrigon, Oregon. He was often seen riding or walking "Hellboy", carrying an American flag. "I came down here to find out what was really going on," he said in an interview on the porch of one of the headquarters buildings wearing a "Desert Storm Veteran" baseball cap.

Jan. 14: Protesters send mixed signals about their plans. Though Ammon Bundy and his followers say they plan to unveil their exit strategy, they're also reaching out to nearby sheriffs and other officials ln search of support. They have accumulated a large stash of food and supplies from backers online.

Nature lovers who stewed as armed squatters strolled the lands on which they've hiked and tracked sandhill cranes, lose patience after the occupiers use government-issue pliers to snip a wire fence protecting grass and wetlands long dedicated to birds and other wildlife.

Harney County's yearslong economic decline helps explain the bitterness that fuels sympathy with the militants at the wildlife refuge, if not their tactics. Desert ranching is one of few industries an environment as harsh as Harney County's has been able to sustain, and many residents say federal overreach threatens the future of this fragile bright spot.

Oregon Rep. Peter DeFazio calls on the Justice Department to take action against the "illegal occupation"of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

A flag signed by various occupiers hangs in the common area of a bunkhouse at the Malheur National Forest, Jan. 15, 2016.

Jan. 15: The anti-government protesters say they want every county in the U.S. to start giving back federal land to the previous owners. They expect that process to start in Harney County, says Payne, a self-styled militiaman and a key leader of the refuge occupation. In an interview, Payne provides the most clear statement yet about what the occupiers want to achieve. They now call themselves Citizens for Constitutional Freedom.

Kenneth Medenbach participated in the fence cutting on Jan. 11, 2016.

Oregon State Police troopers arrest one of the protesters in a Safeway parking lot after he's found with a vehicle bearing federal government license plates. Ken Medenbach, 62, of Crescent is charged with the unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. Law enforcement officials say Medenbach is on probation in connection with another militia-style episode in southern Oregon last year.

Holding signs that read, "Birders against bullies," protesters take to the street in Bend, a two-hour drive from the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Though refuge supporters have become increasingly vocal, the Bend gathering was the first held to send a clear message to occupiers at the refuge.

Jan. 16: The morning news briefing that has become routine during the course of the occupation descends into a shouting match, complete with a bullhorn and name-calling, after three conservationists attempt to speak. The spectacle erupts just after occupiers arrive with a wicker basket full of security cameras they say they removed at the behest of residents.

Environmental activists faced off with refuge occupants at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Jan. 16, 2016. Occupiers presented a pile of surveillance cameras they say were installed by law enforcement.

Jan. 17: Critics of Ammon Bundy and his followers at the wildlife refuge launch a protest designed to line the pocketbooks of Bundy's opponents. The campaign, founded by a pair of brothers from Oregon, is known as GOHOME; the acronym stands for Getting the Occupiers of Historic Oregon Malheur Evicted.

Jan. 18: The protesters take their crusade to end federal land ownership to a new level, imploring local ranchers to tear up their government grazing contracts. Standing before a crowd of about 30 in the dining room of a resort near Crane, the militant leadership urges those gathered to "lay claim" to the area's federal lands.

Harney County is the largest county in Oregon. Encompassing over 10,000 square miles, it is larger than nine states and the District of Columbia. The government holds deeds to 75% of the land.

Jan. 19: Hundreds of people converge on a Portland park to show support for federally owned lands and call for the prosecution of the wildlife refuge occupiers.

Jarvis Kennedy, a tribal council member with the Burns Paiute Tribe, spoke to the crowd rallying in Northeast Portland in support of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Jan. 19, 2016.

Conservation groups stage similar rallies throughout the state, including in Eugene, Bend and La Grande, as well as Idaho and Washington.

In Burns, the divide among friends and neighbors over the refuge occupation boils into the open during a community meeting. In sometimes highly personal remarks, speaker after speaker vents at public officials, at the federal government and at the man in the cowboy hat sitting high in the bleachers - Ammon Bundy.

In Harney County, cattle outnumber people 14-to-1. In the wake of timber and manufacturing's decline, ranching has emerged as the central private sector player in the county. And ranching has enjoyed a growth spurt recently. Desert ranching is one of few industries an environment as harsh as Harney County's has been able to sustain, and many residents say federal overreach threatens the future of this fragile bright spot.

Jan. 20: A 68-year-old former woodworker from California who is often seen roaming the Oregon compound and talking to reporters is a convicted killer, The Oregonian/OregonLive learns. In 1977, Neil Sigurd Wampler bludgeoned his 62-year-old father after a night of drinking. He served four years for second-degree murder. Wampler says he was drawn to the occupation over concerns about government encroachment on the rights of states and citizens.

A fundraiser in protest of the occupation raises more than $50,000 in 72 hours, the Oregon brothers behind the crowdfunding site announce. The same day, members of the wildlife refuge staff make their first public comments about the standoff on Facebook. "We hope to be back soon and pick up where we left off."

The FBI opened negotiations with refuge occupier Ammon Bundy at the local airport drive for nearly an hour, talking to an FBI negotiator by cell phone, Jan.21, 2016.

Jan. 21: The FBI opens negotiations with Ammon Bundy by cellphone. The federal agent, known only as "Chris," listens to Bundy's well-practiced litany of complaints against the government and probes for what it would take to end the standoff. They end the call with a promise to talk again.

In a letter to the nation's top law enforcement officials, Gov. Brown presses for a "swift resolution" to the occupation. The FBI counters that its response has been "deliberate and measured" as it pursues a peaceful resolution.

The former lumber mill in Hines, Oregon. This remote expanse of southeast Oregon, now in the spotlight for a long anti-government standoff, was one of the most prosperous pockets of the state just 40 years ago. No place earned more money per resident in 1973 than Harney County. All of that changed within a generation.

Jan. 22: Negotiations stumble after Ammon Bundy questions whether the FBI has legal standing in Harney County because none of its agents has been deputized by the sheriff. Militiamen and self-styled patriots contend that, under the U.S. Constitution, the sheriff is the highest law enforcement power in a county. The word "sheriff," however, doesn't appear in the Constitution.

Finicum, a member of Ammon Bundy's inner circle, tells Resistance Radio's blogtalk that he is sensing heightened activity from federal law enforcement. "Definitely a lot of saber rousing going on around us,'' he says. "I do believe they're positioning themselves. There's definitely a hardening of their postures. They're bringing in more assets.''

The former lumber mill in Hines, Oregon. The timber industry's decline began in the 1980s and continued into the 1990s when new federal policies limited harvests and increased conservation measures statewide. Harney County suffered multiple blows as the industry withered. The first, and likely largest, came when the original owner of the Hines mill exited the business in the early 1980s. No employer ever ramped back up to the number of jobs lost from the initial shock, said Karen Nitz, an archivist at the county library based in Burns. Businesses that relied on mill workers or orders also vanished. The last holdout in the county's timber industry, Louisiana Pacific, shuttered in 2008.

Jan. 23: Local and federal authorities say the occupiers' sweeping demands -- immediate freedom for the Hammonds, federal deeds voided and grazing permits vacated, among others -- are both brazen and unrealistic. Interviews with lawyers, ranchers and others make clear: Little of what they want is likely to happen due to legal principle, basic property rights, economic forces and cost.

A view of downtown Burns, Oregon on Jan. 4, 2016. "It was actually a pretty exciting little town when the mills were going," said Ty Morris, who has lived in the small town of Burns for 32 years, most of his life. He now cuts hair and rents a chair at a barber shop on the county seat's North Broadway Avenue. "The mills went out," he said, "and Burns died."

Jan. 24: Grant County Sheriff Glenn Palmer stuns the law enforcement community by saying that freeing the Hammonds from prison "would be a start" in ending the standoff. "I just pray to God that cooler heads prevail and that no one gets killed," he says.

The protesters say they have commitments from nine ranchers in two states, including an ex-con, agreeing to renounce their grazing privileges. They promise more will follow and take the symbolic step toward shaking federal control of ranchland.

A sign outside of the Harney County Courthouse notes cancellation of a weekly community meeting Jan. 25, 2016, at the Harney County Senior Center.

Jan. 25: A 54-year-old Woodburn man is arrested in Hines, a town of 1,500 near Burns, after saying he wanted to join the wildlife refuge occupiers and "help with killing federal agents," according to the Harney County Sheriff's Office. He appears to be intoxicated and had a pellet gun.

The founder of the Bundy family's Independent American Party challenges New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to 10 rounds of sumo wrestling. If Christie can win just one round, Kelly Gneiting says, then the militants will walk away. Christie doesn't bite, which is just as well given that the 6-foot, 430-pound Gneiting is a ringer.

The Burns Paiute Tribe demands that law enforcement officials stop allowing Ammon Bundy and his followers free passage to and from the federal bird sanctuary. "Condoning the illegal occupation of a federal facility by armed lawbreakers only encourages others to believe they can behave in the same way, with impunity," a tribal leader says.

Jan. 26: Oregon State Police and the FBI confront protest leaders on U.S. 395 north of Burns as they are heading to a community meeting in John Day. By the time it's over, Robert "LaVoy" Finicum is dead and five people are in federal custody, including Ammon Bundy. Six more occupiers would be arrested by day's end.

Robert "LaVoy" Finicium, who served as the face of the 25-day standoff, was killed during a confrontation with law enforcement, Jan.26, 2016. Finicum, 54, was a rancher in Northern Arizona, along the Utah border. He, and his wife, Jeanette, had 11 children, according to his website "One Cowboy's Stand for Freedom". Finicum wrote a novel called "Only by Blood and Suffering: Regaining Lost Freedom." He filed for bankruptcy in Arizona in 2002, public records show.

Video frame shows Robert "LaVoy" Finicum (center) moments before he was fatally shot by an Oregon State Police officer Tuesday. The FBI released a video showing the shooting death of Finicum, Jan.28, 2016.

Finicum was shot and killed while charging at police, according to a Facebook video by one of the militants. Finicum, who frequently served as a spokesman for Ammon Bundy, became known as "Tarp Man" after doing a series of interviews one frigid evening with a blue tarp over his head. With a gun in his lap, he said he'd rather die than be arrested. Finicum died one day before his 55th birthday.

Reactions pour in from around the state on word of Finicum's death. "I'm deeply disappointed that this thing ended in bloodshed, says Harney County Chair Steve Grasty.

Pete Santilli, the self-styled journalist who started live-streaming reports of Ammon Bundy's arrest, is taken into custody on a felony charge of conspiracy to impede federal officers.

Jon Ritzheimer posts a video to his Facebook page: "I came home to visit my family. The Feds know I am here and are asking me to turn myself in. I need an attorney so I can get back to my girls. Please help my family. Donations can be made at www.rogueinfidel.com to help with legal fees. Thank you all in advance. I just want the country to live by the Constitution and I just want the government to abide by it." He surrenders later that night to police in Arizona.

Sergeant Tom Hutchison stands in front of an Oregon State Police roadblock on U.S. 395 at Seneca. The highway was blocked between John Day and Burns, Jan. 26, 2016, after LaVoy Finicum was killed and other protesters were arrested on their way to John Day.

Law enforcement officers set up roadblocks around the wildlife refuge, and the FBI tells those who remain that they are free to go, and should. By midnight, there were few takers.

The FBI stands ready at a highly fortified road block about 5 miles from the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Oregon, Jan. 27, 2016..

Jan. 27: Ammon Bundy urges the remaining occupiers at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge to go home and "please stand down." The message, issued through his attorney, comes moments after Bundy and six others are arraigned in U.S. District Court in Portland. The judge orders them to remain in jail, calling them flight risks and a danger to public safety.

Security was strong at the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse in Portland, Jan. 27, 2016 as the defendants arrested in Harney County had their appearance in court.

A YouTube user gives tens of thousands of people an inside view of the militants during what could be their final hours. Viewers tune in to watch militants say goodbye to their families, promise to defend their "base," and vow to avenge Finicum's death.

The ragtag remnants of the armed occupation start bowing to calls from supporters, congressional members and even their arrested leader to abandon the windswept bird sanctuary. Jason Patrick, a former roofer from Georgia, steps in to organize the estimated 10 or so people left.

David Fry, one of the last of the occupiers, says he is prepared to die. "I'll pass on and move on to the next life. I don't know (how it will end), but I'm willing to go that far,'' he tells The Plain Dealer in Cleveland during a brief phone interview. "Obviously they are murdering people at this point. They've been doing it for a long time now, and you guys are watching it.''

Oregon FBI Special Agent in Charge Greg Bretzing tells reporters that the occupiers at the wildlife refuge had "ample" time to leave peacefully. "It didn't have to happen," Sheriff Ward says at the same news conference. "We all make choices in life. Sometimes our choices go bad."

Jason Patrick, a former roofer from Georgia, finds himself the de facto leader of the remaining occupiers. He says he isn't sure how the occupation, now in its 26th day, will end, but that he hopes for a peaceful resolution.

Jason Patrick lights a cigarette at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Jan. 10, 2016.

Duane Leo Ehmer, 45, of Irrigon and Dylan Wade Anderson, 34, of Provo, Utah, are taken into federal custody. Hours later the FBI arrests Patrick, 43, of Bonaire, Georgia, at a checkpoint outside the refuge near Burns.

Jan. 28: After a series of arrests and voluntary departures, the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is left in the hands of four people: Sean Anderson, 47, his wife, Sandy, 48, of Riggins, Idaho; Jeff Banta, 46, of Yerington, Nevada; and Fry, 27, of Blanchester, Ohio. Though occupiers stop answering calls from the outside, they are negotiating the terms of their departure "around the clock," says the FBI's Bretzing.

After a second night in jail, Ammon Bundy again urges the remaining holdouts to go home and pledges to expose federal injustices through the court system. "Turn yourselves in and do not use physical force,'' he says in a statement read by his lawyer. "Use the national platform we have to continue to defend liberty through our constitutional rights.''

The FBI releases footage of Finicum's final moments in an attempt to dispel rumors about his death. The video shows him reaching twice for a pocket that police say contained a 9 mm semiautomatic pistol. That's when troopers fired.

A network of anti-government groups call on their supporters to flood into Burns. "We need not hundreds, but thousands to come here," BJ Soper writes. "I am asking for any and all to come."

Ammon Bundy and his followers are being charged under a 154-year-old law created for a nation divided by war. It applies, experts say, because the Confederates, like the occupiers, also rejected federal power.

A federal judge makes clear that she won't release anyone accused in the wildlife refuge takeover as long as the occupation is still active.

Portland-based Voodoo Doughnut creates a doughnut featuring Ammon Bundy behind bars.

The decline of the timber industry felled the mill, then the regional economy. Timber supported a third of the county's employment base in the 1970s. It now accounts for virtually none.

Jan. 29: A judge refuses to release five of 10 defendants accused of conspiracy in the wildlife refuge; Ammon Bundy, Ryan Bundy, Ryan Payne, Jason Patrick and Dylan Anderson remain in lockup.

The last of the Harney County holdouts say they'll quit the compound in exchange for pardons. "Before we leave, every single one of the people involved in this operation should be pardoned," Fry says on a YouTube feed.

Birders and conservationists voice concern over the damage done by the occupation. A short video offers a peek inside a refuge building, and one thing is clear: Occupiers aren't big on housekeeping.

Broken auto glass remains strewn along the road surface about 19 miles north of downtown Burns on U.S. 395 at the location where authorities stopped Robert "LaVoy" Finicum and others on Jan. 26th, 2016. The truck Finicum was driving plowed into this snow bank on the opposite side of the road.

With Ammon Bundy behind bars, someone posts a fake listing for his favorite blue plaid wool jacket on Craigslist. The price? $50,000.

Just past the Juaquin Miller campground on a juniper-lined mountain pass, a wooden cross appears in bloodstained snow where Finicum died three days earlier. Broken glass litters the ground near a snowbank rutted from the impact of a pickup truck's front bumper.

A wooden cross was erected at the site where LaVoy Finicum was fatally shot on US 395, Jan. 29, 2016.

Jan. 30: The Finicum family, in its first public statement on the shooting, disputes the official account of the confrontation. They interpret his actions on the video as "animated," not threatening.

Ammon Bundy's attorneys in Portland announce "there's nothing further that can be done" on their end to bring closure to the standoff.

The four wildlife refuge holdouts discuss their exit strategy and talk chow in a livestream posted on YouTube. Four voices can be heard on the video, which apparently was filmed in the dark of night.

The federal government's role is particularly large. It accounts for 12 percent of jobs but 20 percent of all wages earned outside of farms. "If you take federal away, you might as well finish making us a ghost town," said Jan Cupernall, of Burns, who sits on the local historical society board.

Jan. 31: Shawna Cox, who was there, says in an interview that Finicum yelled "just shoot me" during the deadly confrontation with state police.

The four holdouts awake to find their phone and Internet service out, and the sudden quiet heightens the sense of uncertainty about when -- and how -- the standoff will end.

Harney county's remote location makes it difficult to sway new businesses to come, even to a large enterprise zone that offers tax breaks.

Feb. 1: Ammon Bundy's lawyers say they will challenge U.S. Magistrate Judge Stacie F. Beckerman's order to keep their client in custody pending trial. Beckerman cited Bundy's repeated disregard of federal orders to leave the wildlife refuge in her decision.

A judge's decision to release Cox makes no mention of a condition that the occupation had to be over before any of the protesters could leave jail. Judge Beckerman's order to free Cox is inconsistent with one she gave during Cox's detention hearing.

An intersection in the town of Burns, Jan. 4, 2016. Nearly half of the county's jobs -- 45 percent -- are on public payrolls. No other county in 2013 derived a greater share of wages from the government than Harney County, said Josh Lehner, an economist who has researched rural Oregon for his job at the Oregon Office of Economic Analysis.

Feb. 2: Ammon Bundy issues another statement asking the four wildlife refuge holdouts to "go home now so their lives are not taken."

Christian evangelist Franklin Graham joins talks to end the occupation, a spokesman confirms. Graham runs the North Carolina-based evangelical organization named after his father, Billy Graham.

Moments before Ammon Bundy was to appear in a federal courtroom in Portland to challenge a judge's order to keep him in custody pending trial, his attorneys withdraw their challenge.

The Finicum family issues a second statement on the shooting and accuses the FBI and Oregon State Police of a cover-up. The family says it reached its conclusion upon further review of the FBI video and accounts of the shooting from Cox, a passenger in Finicum's truck. "What we believe the video shows is that LaVoy was being fired upon before he even got out of the truck," the statement says.

A federal judge affirms another judge's decision to release Oregon standoff figure Joseph O'Shaughnessy from custody with home detention and GPS monitoring.

An old guard gate at the former lumber mill, long since closed, in Hines, Oregon. At the recession's height in 2009, unemployment hit 17 percent, the second highest rate in the state. Two-thirds of the county's children qualified for free and reduced lunch prices in 2012. Young people who leave for college often never return. Today, Harney County is one of the few in Oregon whose population is shrinking.

Feb. 3: A federal grand jury hands down indictments against Ammon Bundy, his brother and at least nine other co-defendants in connection with the wildlife refuge takeover.

Feb. 4: Ammon Bundy says from jail that the wildlife refuge occupation was "a needed action" and calls on state and federal law enforcement officials to leave eastern Oregon. Bundy's attorneys release an audio statement from their client after he learns of his federal indictment in the Jan. 2 takeover. He and 15 others are charged with conspiracy to impede federal officers through intimidation, threats or force, a felony punishable by as much as six years in prison.

The four remaining holdouts at the Harney County refuge say they are down to a single link to the outside world - a FBI-provided cellphone. They continue to camp out at the compound, refusing federal agents' demands that they surrender.

Cox asks a judge to lift an order barring her from attending Finicum's funeral in Kanab, Utah. "Ms. Cox is not seeking permission to attend a reception or make a home or social visit in connection with the scheduled funeral," her lawyer writes in the emergency motion. "Her request is limited to entering a church, offering prayers and condolences, and then returning home."

Hundreds of people across the country indicate they will stage rallies and vigils in Finicum's memory. More than 30 memorials, candlelight vigils and rallies in at least 17 states are planned over three days.

Duane Leo Ehmer is released under GPS monitoring, home detention and travel restrictions after U.S. Magistrate Judge Janice M. Stewart determines that the lone defendant from Oregon is not a flight risk. She also agrees with his lawyer's assertions that Ehmer's involvement in the occupation was limited, and that he was not an "inciter,'' but more of a "joiner.''

U.S. District Court Chief Justice Michael W. Mosman affirms a decision to detain Santilli pending trial, saying he was disturbed by several remarks the independent broadcaster made during his online broadcasts promising to shoot federal officers if they came to take him or his guns away. "There's a handful of statements I can't discount as just shock-jock" bravado, Mosman says.

A riderless horse is used to honor LaVoy Finicum as his hears drives by during the funeral in Kanab, Utah, Feb. 5, 2016.

Feb. 5: About 1,000 people turn out to pay their respects to Robert "LaVoy" Finicum at the Kanab Utah Kaibab Stake Center. He lay, dressed in white, in a pine casket built by his family. On the inside of the lid, surrounded by a barbed-wire border, were the words "One Cowboy's Stand for Freedom."

Cox, meanwhile, was given permission to attend the funeral.

Negotiations continue with the four holdouts after a militia's weekend plan to escort them out is canceled. Despite the relative calm, residents remain on edge as the armed takeover wraps up its fifth week.

A federal magistrate judge orders Brian Cavalier, the self-described "personal bodyguard'' for Ammon Bundy, to remain in custody pending trial. His lawyer promises to appeal.

Mourners decorate the scene on US 395 outside of Burns, Oregon, Feb. 6, 2016, where occupier LaVoy Finicum was shot dead by police. A memorial was erected and then destroyed. The cross was reconstructed.

Feb. 6: Soon after somebody tears down a cross erected in honor of Finicum along the Oregon highway on which he died, someone takes the remnants and builds a smaller version of the cross.

The Oregonian/OregonLive creates a timeline of the fatal traffic stop, sourced from public statements by the FBI, the two women in Finicum's truck and the driver of a Jeep who saw it happen.

Feb. 7: In one of a series of videos, David Fry rails against those who destroyed a roadside memorial for his fallen colleague, calls for the FBI to leave Oregon, and takes a joyride in a pickup with government plates.

Members of the Burns Paiute Tribe are both amused and frustrated that militants seized the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on behalf of ranchers they claim had lost the land unfairly to the federal government. They have a message for the occupiers: You're not the victim.

An old barn adorned with a painted American flag in Burns, Oregon, January, 2016.

Feb. 8: Ammon Bundy continues to make his voice heard while sitting in jail. He uses his latest public statement to urge elected officials from eight states to support their imprisoned constituents.

Feb. 9: One-time occupier Scott Willingham offers himself up as a mediator between the FBI and the last four still at the refuge. "At this point in time, all anybody should care about is trying to help the community get past it," he says.

Pete Santilli.

The ACLU of Oregon isn't convinced Pete Santilli, who is being held pending trial, is a danger to the community and cautions the court against using his broadcast statements against him. Mat dos Santos, the group's legal director, says in a statement that he is troubled a federal judge and prosecutors relied on remarks Santilli made months or even years before the armed takeover in Harney County.

Ammon Bundy's lawyers deny claims they violated ethics laws after two complaints were filed with the Oregon State Bar. Bundy hired the Arnold Law Firm of Eugene less than three weeks after its lawyers traveled to the wildlife refuge to offer their services for free. The bar prohibits lawyers from soliciting professional employment in person, by phone or through electronic contact "when a significant motive for the lawyer's doing so is the lawyer's pecuniary gain.'' Mike Arnold, who runs the firm, says his lawyers did nothing inappropriate, and outside legal experts agree.

Feb. 10: Surrounded by FBI agents in armored vehicles, the four holdouts continue negotiations through an open phone line being live-streamed on YouTube. As many as 60,000 people are listening in as the occupiers seesaw between anger and panic, praying and screaming over the course of the five-hour broadcast.

Three SUVs proceed through the Narrows roadblock on Oregon 205 after FBI agents surrounded the remaining four occupiers at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Feb.10, 2016.

A Nevada state legislator and vocal gun rights advocate offers to be a go-between in the negotiations. Michele Fiore, a two-term assemblywoman, gets on the phone with occupiers upon arriving in Portland.

Cliven Bundy.

Cliven Bundy, the rancher who touched off one armed showdown with federal authorities and applauded another started by his sons, is arrested at Portland International Airport in connection with the 2014 standoff at his Nevada ranch. Bundy, 74, faces a conspiracy charge of interfering with a federal officer -- the same one lodged against his sons, Ammon and Ryan, for their roles in the Oregon takeover. He also faces weapons charges.

The Bundy patriarch had traveled to Portland with plans to continue on to Burns, where the four remaining occupiers remained encamped.

Franklin Graham rides in an SUV with Michele Fiore and three FBI agents past the Narrows roadblock on Oregon 205, on their way to assist with the surrender of the final four occupiers of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Feb.11, 2016.

Feb. 11: Jeff Banta, Sean Anderson and Sandy Anderson surrender as planned but Fry holds back, insisting he is suicidal and demanding to talk to a negotiator.

"I'm a free man and I will die a free man," he can be heard saying on the live feed.

FBI negotiators, with help from Fiore and Graham, spend the next hour talking to the 27-year-old Ohio man who at one point says he's pointing a gun to his head. KrisAnne Hall also joins the conversation, shifting a crisis intervention into a monologue on her Tea Party-infused views (and attracting social media ridicule). Finally, Fry asks for a cigarette and cookie and starts walking out, and the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is over after 41 days.

The end of the occupation means the Harney County wildlife refuge is now a massive crime scene. It will remain closed for weeks as investigators check for explosives, gather evidence and help the Burns Paiute Tribe assess damage to their cultural artifacts.

FOLLOW UP

March 8: Oregon State Police troopers were justified in firing on Robert "LaVoy" Finicum and killing him with three shots, law enforcement officials said. And police and sheriff's deputies still don't know exactly who's responsible for two stray shots linked to the FBI during the confrontation, a matter that remains under investigation.

Those were the two big takeaways from a Tuesday morning news conference at the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office in Bend. The agency was charged with determining whether state police were justified in using deadly force on Jan. 26.

-- The Oregonian/OregonLive