BURNS - The bomb technicians were getting impatient.

They faced hours of work to search the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge to look for explosives.

But first they had to wait for a media event to finish up, though this one was sanctioned by the government and had an FBI agent not Ammon Bundy holding forth.

Authorities allowed reporters to drive up to the edge of what is now a huge crime scene - the refuge compound with its historic buildings, trucks and heavy equipment commandeered by armed protesters who took over the federal reserve for 41 days.

The FBI intends to comb it all for evidence. So far, 25 people have been charged for some role in the occupation that started Jan. 2. Police expect more people to face charges in the coming weeks.

"This is a long way from done," one FBI agent said.

The crime scene starts at the Sod House Lane bridge over a canal, roughly a quarter-mile from the entry into the refuge headquarters. A large front-end loader is still parked, blocking the bridge. The protesters dropped it there sometime the evening of Jan. 26 - hours after Robert "LaVoy" Finicum, 54, was shot and killed while eluding police on a highway roughly 50 miles north of the refuge.

That night, protesters scrambled to provide make-shift roadblocks to stop police who didn't show up.

The front-end loader was part of their hasty defensive moves. Later, protesters would complain that someone lost the key to it, preventing them from moving it out of the way later to make their own easy escape.

Now, the equipment is evidence. FBI technicians will be looking for fingerprints, and there could be future charges of vehicle theft.

Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Headquarters

From the bridge, there was little observable activity at the compound. FBI agents reportedly were on the grounds in force, but the bridge afforded only a far view of the headquarters.

What was visible was "Camp Finicum" - the hodgepodge of trucks, cars and ATVs fashioned into a home for the last four occupiers. The white tarps used for their shelter were still in place.

And there was no one in the fire tower that the occupiers had turned into an elevated guard shack with armed staffing around-the-clock.

But refuge employees hope the tower won't stay silent for long.

A family of great horned owls typically returns to the refuge this time of year, nesting in the tower and launching a new family. Workers with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service hope the owls, sometimes pretty determined to return to even disturbed nesting sites, will come home.

The workers won't know for sure until they can get back to the refuge themselves, something that's weeks away as the crime scene processing stretches on.

The quiet of the compound on an overcast day replaced what for weeks had been a lively hub.

The entryway to the refuge was the staging point for much of occupation leader Ammon Bundy's appeals via news conference for understanding and support.

It was there, too, that the world got acquainted with Finicum, the Arizona rancher who became the amiable face of the occupation. The press, sometimes numbering close to 100, would gather for the regular briefings on the small bluff above the compound.

When Bundy or Finicum weren't on stage, other occupiers controlled comings and goings, parking a government-owned truck across the entry road. They let visitors walk into the headquarters and sometimes drive in.

But it was clear that they meant to maintain watch at that entry point - they were armed and huddled around a campfire around the clock. Now, there's no fire and no roadblock.

There's no Duane Ehmer, the Irrigon cowboy who would ride his horse Hellboy up the road, waving the American flag. Ehmer, like so many other public faces of the occupation, is charged with federal conspiracy.

And though the refuge is now back in government hands, the FBI is still restricting access. Sod House Lane, the two-lane road branching off Oregon Route 205, remains blocked at the intersection there, a spot called The Narrows six miles from the refuge headquarters. An electronic reader board for the unmanned point still warns of arrest for violating the "Road Closed" sign.

About two miles closer to the refuge, the FBI maintains another checkpoint, this one framed by two armored BearCats and banks of high-intensity field lights, staffed by armed special agents.

They're serious about seeing that no one - not other militants, not self-styled patriots and not the curious - get anywhere close to the refuge compound while agents work.

Overhead, an FBI surveillance plane continues flying loops, keeping vigil over the ground forces.

With the media event over, the bomb technicians were free to take on their methodical task. They come from the FBI, the Portland Police Bureau and the Oregon Air National Guard.

Only when they're done - a task expected to take days - will FBI agents tasked with gathering evidence move in.

-- Les Zaitz

@leszaitz