Study finds US public land workers facing assaults, threats

"The security review was requested by U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat and chairman of the natural resources committee. It covered four agencies: the Forest Service, BLM, Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service. Grijalva said the attacks documented underscore growing concerns over the safety of government workers on public land. The lawmaker also criticized the Trump administration's appointment of Bureau of Land Management Acting Director William "Perry" Pendley, who has expressed support for Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy. Bundy's family played central roles in a 2014 standoff over grazing fees in Nevada and the 2016 occupation of Oregon's Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. "Making a folk hero out of Bundy, that sets a dangerous precedent," Grijalva said. "At the top of the agency, they reinforce and embolden some of these actions by doing nothing and previously being in support of them." Pendley, a former property rights attorney, routinely lambasted federal bureaucrats prior to his appointment in July and warned of another populist "Sagebrush Rebellion" if the government didn't open more Western lands to development." (ab) http://ow.ly/4tRQ50wTBQ6
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