Weeks into their government standoff at a federal wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon, a right-wing militia group's attempts to reconcile with a local Native American tribe by filming themselves rummaging through their belongings has sparked outrage.

In the three-minute YouTube video uploaded Wednesday by LaVoy Finicum, one of the men responsible for leading the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns since Jan. 2, Finicum and several other men are shown leafing through boxes of documents belonging to the Paiute tribe.

Finicum encourages tribe members to meet with the militia group to reclaim items "rotting" and "wasting away" at the government refuge, which is home to thousands of Paiute artifacts, including tools and weapons, as well as burial grounds. In the video, Finicum notes decades-old papers strewn across the floor, and one box allegedly containing a rat's nest.

"We are concerned about the way artifacts are stored here, the Paiute's artifacts, and so we're reaching out to the Paiute tribe to say we need to open up a communication," Finicum said. "We want to make sure that these things are returned to their rightful owners and that they're taken care of."

Despite the militiamen's assertion that they intend to save Paiute artifacts from the government, tribe members argue it is the militiamen that their belongings need protecting from. In a letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last week, the tribe requested assistance in protecting Paiute artifacts from the armed protesters, calling for an inventory of items in the refuge, and criminal prosecution of the group under the Archeological Resources Protection Act.

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"They continue to desecrate one of our most important sacred sites," Burns Paiute Tribal Chair Charlotte Rodrique said in a news release. "They should be held accountable."

Also contrary to the militia group's mission to transfer control of public land from the federal government to ranchers, the Paiute argue the refuge land is a part of the tribe's ancestral territory and have refused to meet with the group.

Other members of the community surrounding the wildlife refuge have also denounced the actions of the militia members, many of whom are not from Oregon. Harney County Judge Steve Grasty said he plans to hold leader Ammon Bundy—son of notorious Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy— responsible for the cost of providing security measures for the refuge, a bill that could be as high as $70,000 a day.

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In total, the standoff has cost taxpayers nearly a half million dollars, according to Oregon Gov. Kate Brown. In letters to the White House and Department of Justice this week, Brown requested assistance from the FBI and other law enforcement in removing the militia group from federal land, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported.

"For the citizens of Harney County and indeed all Oregonians, I must insist on a swift resolution to this matter," Brown wrote. "Efforts to negotiate have not been successful, and now it is unclear what steps, if any, federal authorities might take to bring this untenable situation to an end and restore normalcy to this community."