BURNS -- Law enforcement officials are getting a lot of unsolicited help to end the ongoing armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

When Oregon Rep. Dallas Heard, a Republican from Roseburg, led a convoy of out-of-state elected officials to Burns to meet with the militant protesters on Saturday evening, it was just the latest example of the flood of outsiders who have come here uninvited, ostensibly in an effort to help.

Before Heard, there were the self-styled patriots from Idaho and elsewhere who arrived heavily armed Friday afternoon and Saturday morning to form a "perimeter" around the occupation and deliver lists of resolutions to federal and local law enforcement officials.

And on Friday evening, an unelected "committee of safety" of locals inspired by Revolutionary War rhetoric took on the militants' cause and began organizing around the idea of wresting control of public land from the federal government. Though they once affiliated with Arizona businessman Ammon Bundy, the leader of the militants, they're now trying to get him to leave.

As law enforcement has continued to take a "wait-them-out" approach to the occupation, more and more outsiders - many of them armed - have descended on this remote corner of Eastern Oregon. Many of them are well-meaning and want to help bring the situation to a peaceful resolution. Some are reveling in the international media attention. Others are inspired by the militants and have come to join the protest.

Few, if any, of them have been welcomed with open arms by law enforcement.

"There's armed militia, and they're in our community," said Harney County Judge Steven E. Grasty, frustrated with the attempts by outsiders to speak for local residents or to perform the job of public safety officers.

Jerry DeLemus, 61, of Rochester, New Hampshire, arrived in Oregon last week to also help convince Bundy - son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy - and his band to give up the occupation. He is well acquainted with the Bundys, having assumed the role of commander of the private militia involved in the Nevada ranch standoff in 2014.

DeLemus said in an interview he has been to the refuge once to talk to Bundy and will continue efforts "to get him to pack his bags."

He said he approached the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Burns as recently as Saturday to offer to be a mediator. "I think I can get this resolved," he said, but the FBI so far hasn't accepted his offer.

"I'm really upset that I haven't heard back from them," DeLemus said.

Even when the help arrives for the militants, their leaders haven't always seemed thrilled.

Members of the Pacific Patriots Network, a network of groups from Oregon, Washington and Idaho, arrived to the refuge on Saturday carrying rifles and sidearms and wearing bulletproof vests and military attire. They had shown up, they said, to "de-escalate" the standoff by providing security for both the protesters and Harney County residents.

But it wasn't long before a man who said he represented Bundy emerged from the refuge and said the self-styled patriots had been asked to leave.

They did. The patriot groups, which include Brandon Curtiss and the "3% of Idaho," left for the Burns Municipal Airport, where Curtiss and other leaders spoke to FBI officials for about a half hour and presented them with a list of requests calling for an end to the standoff, among other wishes.

From there, the caravan of 15 to 20 rigs proceeded to the Harney County Courthouse and lined the streets as Curtiss waited for Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward. When he finally came outside, Ward was presented with the same list of requests, which the patriot groups had also given Bundy's militant group earlier in the day.

As the scene in front of the courthouse played out, another group of uninvited visitors was preparing to meet with Bundy over the objections of Grasty and state Rep. Cliff Bentz, a Republican from Ontario whose district includes Harney County.

Heard and five other elected officials from Washington, Idaho and Nevada were on a "fact-finding mission," Heard said. Last year's Umpqua Community College shooting occurred in Heard's district, and Heard said he wanted to prevent a similar outbreak of violence.

The out-of-state legislators were Reps. Graham Hunt and Matt Shea of Washington; Reps. Judy Boyle, Heather Scott and Sage Dixon of Idaho; and Rep. Michelle Fiore of Nevada, who joined by telephone.

"He had called me and indicated he was heading that direction, and I indicated that was inappropriate," Bentz said of Heard. "I think it's fair to say I was not enthusiastic about the idea."

Les Zaitz of The Oregonian/OregonLive contributed to this report.

-- Luke Hammill

lhammill@oregonian.com

503-294-4029

@lucashammill