Cliven Bundy

Rancher Cliven Bundy holds his 5-month-old grandson Roper Cox at an event Saturday, April 11, 2015, in Bunkerville, Nev. Bundy is holding the event to celebrate the one year anniversary since the Bureau of Land Management's failed attempt to collect his cattle.

(aP Photo/John Locher)

Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward has said that he expects that militants who have taken over the wildlife refuge in Oregon will face federal charges.

But Ward may be waiting a long time.

Many of the anti-government protesters now holed up outside of Burns joined in the tense standoff with federal rangers at Cliven Bundy's ranch in April 2014.

Some of the Nevada protesters pointed guns at police and U.S. Bureau of Land Management rangers, briefly blocked the state highway and kicked a police dog. But the state and federal governments have filed no charges against anyone in that confrontation.

Such inaction was likely to have consequences, predicted a July 2014 report by the Homeland Security's Office of Intelligence and Analysis.

The militants' belief that the standoff "was a defining victory over government oppression is galvanzing some individuals," the report said, linking several criminal acts -- including the murder of two Las Vegas police officers -- to those who helped at Bunkerville.

The report warned more violence and armed standoffs were likely -- especially against government officials and law enforcement.

"At end of day, the Bundys walked away with essentially a victory," said Eric Herzik, professor and chair of the University of Nevada-Reno's Political Science Department who closely followed the events in 2014.

"The Bundys, in particular," he said, "feel they're above the law,"

Cliven Bundy reclaimed the cattle at the center of the standoff. He continues to run them on federal land. He hasn't paid the $1 million in grazing fees that a judge has ordered him to pay to the Bureau of Land Management.

And last April, on the anniversary of the standoff, the Bundys held a weekend-long party at the Bunkerville ranch.

BLM statement

"The Bureau of Land Management remains resolute in addressing issues involved in efforts to gather Mr. Bundy's cattle last year and we are pursuing the matter through the legal system. Our primary goal remains, as it was a year ago, to resolve this matter safely and according to the rule of the law."

Since the standoff, Bureau of Land Management leaders in Nevada have remained tight-lipped on the issue, typically issuing a general statement anytime someone asks that that they're "pursuing the matter."

In June, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, who oversees the agency, briefly addressed action against Bundy to the Las Vegas Review-Journal - though that, too, was cryptic.

"The wheels of justice move at their own pace," said Jewell, who was in Las Vegas to deliver the keynote address to the Western Governors' Association in late June. "I am confident this issue is going to be appropriately resolved."

After repeated calls this week, officials at Nevada's attorney general's office, the district attorney in Clark County, Nevada didn't return calls from The Oregonian/OregonLive seeking comment. Gov. Brian Sandoval declined to comment.

Cliven Bundy could not be reached in Nevada for comment. But he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal last April at the anniversary celebration that he wanted people to see he was still there.

"Legalwise, I know they'd love to tie me up in a legal court battle," Bundy said. "I'm not anxious for that but let me tell you something, when we get there we're going to find out who the criminals really are. Is it the federal government and their agency or is it Cliven Bundy trying to produce for 'we the people?' "

Past and present Bureau of Land Management employees are frustrated by the situation, some saying that they'd heard in late 2014 that indictments were weeks away.

And though politicians at nearly every level spoke out during the standoff, close observers can cite no instance over the past year when a state leader has pushed for the federal government to speed up the process now.

Conversely, some state leaders have worked to free Bundy from the federal fees that he's fought for decades.

A few Nevada lawmakers pushed last spring for a law to curtail federal control of Nevada's public lands, said David F. Damore, an associate political science professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution Governance Studies program.

But the proposed law was found unconstitutional, he said, and a later watered-down version passed out of committee and "was left to die by Republican legislative leaders."

In the meantime, some say, the Bundys have been emboldened by the lack of federal action.

"Not only do the Bundys continue with their grazing trespass unabated, but they have taken effective control of about a million acres nominally managed by the BLM and the National Park Service (Lake Mead National Recreation Area)," said Edward Patrovsky, a retired Bureau of Land Management ranger who has worked in Oregon and Nevada.

"This is interfering with conservation programs, including recovery efforts for the endangered Desert Tortoise."

Patrovsky said the Bundys' ability to flout the law seemed to energize them to become involved with -- "and often escalate" -- other disputes over public lands.

Ammon Bundy, who is leading the Oregon wildlife refuge takeover, tangled with federal officers during the Bundy standoff in 2014. He had blocked a truck trying to leave federal lands with his father's cattle, which rangers had seized because the family had not paid the grazing fees that other ranchers must pay.

A video of the encounter shows Ammon Bundy lunging at a federal ranger holding a police dog. The dog snapped at Bundy, who then kicked the dog twice, the video shows. Federal rangers used a stun gun to keep Ammon Bundy away.

While no violence has erupted at the refuge 30 miles outside of Burns, the armed protesters have said they will defend themselves if they are "attacked" by law enforcement. At times, a few members of the group armed with rifles have turned the refuge's fire lookout into a watch tower.

Out of safety concerns, the community has kept its courthouse, schools and government offices closed over the past week.

At a community meeting in Harney County on Wednesday afternoon, several residents said they appreciate that Ammon Bundy and the others have brought national attention to issues they have all faced.

But Herzik, the political science professor, said that it's unlikely the Bundys' involvement will ultimately help ranchers in Oregon.

"This really makes it more difficult for the ranchers," said Herzik, who has tracked how Bundy's sons have gotten involved in other protests in Seattle and Utah. "They have legitimate concerns and then it gets caught up in this sideshow - the weird racist, religious, extremist rants - that gets them tagged with the Ammon Bundys and hurts the legitimate voices.

"That makes the rural urban divide even worse."

-- Laura Gunderson

@lgunderson; 503-221-8378

lgunderson@oregonian.com