A 42-year-old Washington woman who has met twice this weekend with men occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters said the group's spirits are high and they are prepared to remain in the eastern Oregon outpost for "many years."

Maureen Peltier, who said she is a disabled veteran, staff sergeant with the Washington Army National Guard and a member of the so-called patriot movement, traveled from her home in Bonny Lake to Burns this weekend to take part in Saturday's protest of the federal government's criminal case against a pair of Harney County ranchers. By Saturday night, leaders of the protest effort had taken over a facility at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

Peltier said she met with several protesters at the gate to the refuge then later at a Burns hotel. She posted about the encounters on Facebook, saying the group is "doing very well."

"They did have a good security team and bonfires to keep warm," she wrote. "They want Americans with rational, cool heads to join them."

She said they are not engaged in a "hostile takeover" and that the group hasn't damaged property.

"There is absolutely no armed standoff," she wrote. "They want us to know: They are simply occupying land and a building owned by 'We The People.' Our tax dollars. And that for them, this is a civil peaceful protest."

Law enforcement has so far not engaged protesters.

Peltier elaborated on her encounters in a phone interview Sunday with The Oregonian/OregonLive, saying some in the group are armed and others are not. She said protesters are moving freely in and out of the facility and are bringing children onto the grounds Sunday. The Oregonian/OregonLive was unable to confirm whether children were with the protesters.

"They are calling for other American patriots to take this stand with them," she said. "You don't have to be armed. They want everything to be very peaceful. They want the government to hear their grievances."

Peltier said she plans to return home Sunday.

-- Noelle Crombie

503-276-7184; @noellecrombie