BURNS - As Ammon Bundy was driven out of Harney County Tuesday night in handcuffs, he left behind wounds that won't easily heal.



His group damaged the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, taken over Jan. 2. The headquarters compound will be a crime scene for a week or more once all the protesters are gone. Then, displaced federal workers will return, going building by building, room by room, to assess the damage.



The most profound wreckage, however, is among the 7,000 people of Harney County.



Bundy's message of unshackling the county from federal control resonated with those frustrated with bureaucracy.



But those supporting the occupation found themselves staring across a social chasm at friends and neighbors who abhorred Bundy's arrival and his tactics. Community members couldn't even agree on how to gather in public to hear information and share opinions without fear, insults and holstered guns dominating.

That deep canyon won't be bridged soon, local residents say. Hurtful words, often entombed forever on social media, still rattle through the community, which seemed under siege for almost an entire month.



Unsure of the Bundy group's intentions, local authorities closed schools in the Burns area for an extra week. The opening game of basketball season was shifted 113 miles east to a gym in Vale.

Federal employees were told to stay away from work. The local offices of the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management went dark, and they have stayed so even through Friday.

They discussed their concerns about the Hammond prosecution and pressed Ward to take steps to protect Dwight and Steven from going to jail.



"They were heavy into visual intimidation," said John Miller, a Harney County sheriff's deputy who sat in on the meeting. He described Payne locking gazes with Ward as he pressed the sheriff to commit to a new path.



The men gave the sheriff seven days to answer their demands.



"They had ultimatums I couldn't meet," Ward said later.

Undeterred, the militants became a steady presence in Harney County. Once Bundy and his core group took over the refuge on the first Saturday evening in January, they touched off an escalation that in some ways brought county life to a halt.



To the amazement of local citizens and even outside police, Bundy and his crew faced no pressure at their newly established militant base at the refuge. Not a patrol car or uniformed officer was apparent on the run from Burns out Oregon Route 205 and the turnoff to Sod House Lane and the last six miles to the refuge headquarters entry.



The compound became a bit of a tourist attraction over the weeks, with locals trudging out to look and, in some cases, to sit down and talk to the occupiers. Some brought their children as an educational moment.



Ending the siege



In the week before his arrest, Bundy and his group accelerated their activity. They traveled north to Grant County to meet with locals unhappy with Forest Service dominance there. The occupiers found support from an unlikely source - the local sheriff. Glenn Palmer twice met with the occupiers, asking two of the rebels to autograph his pocket copy of the U.S. Constitution.



It was a return trip to John Day that ended the Bundys' siege. Oregon State Police shot and killed Robert "LaVoy" Finicum after he tried to evade a police roadblock. Ammon Bundy and his brother, Ryan, were arrested, along with others. Eleven people now face federal charges.



For the occupation, the arrests left a leadership void at the refuge. Just a few holdouts remain. For Susan Hammond, her only recourse becomes the established legal system and a years-long bid for presidential clemency.



For the community, the hard work of recovery begins. Plans to repair more physical damage left by the occupation are pending.



At the wildlife refuge, workers from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will rush back when they can to attend to projects meant to improve habitat - and work with ranchers who have permission to graze on refuge grass.



"We have no information on the condition of the refuge," said Jason Holm, assistant regional director of the federal wildlife agency. "Once we are able to return, we will assess, repair or rebuild where necessary."



One priority will be to assess what the protesters did to a priceless collection of artifacts of the Burns Paiute Tribe.



"In terms of the Burns Paiute, I can't describe the trauma of having militia members handle tribal artifacts," Gov. Kate Brown said. "That's like desecrating a church. It's like tearing up your great-grandfather's gravesite."



Just a few miles away, the damage assessment is still underway at the Malheur Field Station, a research station run by the nonprofit Great Basin Society Inc. Duncan Evered, a co-director who fled the militia by driving without headlights over back roads that Saturday night, said the operation has lost about $20,000 through cancelled reservations and other costs.



He discovered the militia showed up last week, apparently breaking into a dining hall and dragging furniture outside to hold up targets. He said visitors stumbled upon the men, including occupation leader Ryan Payne, firing off their guns.

One Bundy objective has a flicker of life to it.



Repeatedly, the Arizona businessman said teams were at work to track property titles and return refuge property to private owners or turn it over to the county. The refuge land isn't going anywhere.



His vow, however, that Harney County would show how to kick the federal government off public land lives on. The Harney County Committee of Safety - which includes four local ranchers - insists it will continue hosting discussions about public land management. The group promises more public meetings - ones that don't require armed police.



"As we move forward, working within our county that is torn by so many unexpected events, we re-focus on that which brought us to form this committee, the Hammonds: the case of Dwight and Steven, support to Susie and Earlynna and pursuing legal processes to bring them justice," the committee said in a recent statement.



The next steps



The issues represented by committee members and others have caught the attention of politicians. Oregon's congressional delegation promises more attention to rural issues that impair the economy of eastern Oregon.

"Once this standoff is resolved, I will work on getting reimbursement for local law enforcement," said Sen. Ron Wyden. "I am continuing long-running work to strengthen and improve collaborative efforts such as the success in avoiding an endangered species listing for the sage grouse. Those efforts will be focused like a laser on amplifying the voice of rural Oregonians who want solutions."



The governor is scheduled to meet Monday with Interior Secretary Sally Jewell.



"Out of crises, we can see opportunities," Brown said. "Can we really roll up our sleeves and have a serious conversation about how we help rural communities thrive economically?"



Steve Grasty, who chairs the Harney County Board of Commissioners, also is vowing to head to Washington, D.C., to rattle federal cages. He's sought his own meeting with Jewell, but her agency was restrained in addressing whether he'd get one.



"We appreciate Judge Grasty's efforts and leadership," an agency spokeswoman said in a written statement. "The department has been in touch with him."



But some are frustrated that Bundy's misadventure created the impression there is no hope for the government to work with ranchers, environmentalists and others. They point out that it was just such a collection that hammered out the tough agreement to preserve Steens Mountain, a stunning feature that juts out of the flat desert 70 miles or so south of Burns. They remind that ranchers, environmentalists, local government and federal agencies together drew up plans to enhance the wildlife refuge. Another collaborative effort bore results last year, when voluntary steps spared the desert from otherwise harsh new limitations on public land use to spare the sage grouse.



And the day that Ammon Bundy was stopped on his way to spread his gospel in John Day, a state board voted to grant $3.6 million for work on wetland restoration and sage grouse protections. The Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board "rarely" gives two sizable grants to the same region, according to Meta Loftsgaaden, its executive director.



She described as "amazing" the work that landowners, ranchers, federal agencies and nonprofits do together in Harney County.



"They are in an area of the state we hold up as an example of how you do this sort of collaboration in a positive and meaningful way," she said. "That just speaks to how these guys know how to work together."



Kelly House, Luke Hammill, and Carli Brosseau contributed to this report.



-- Les Zaitz

lzaitiz@oregonian.com

@LesZaitz