Adrian Sewell of Grant County, New Mexico, renounced his U.S. Forest Service grazing contract during an event attended by more or less 120 people.
Sewell was the only one who renounced his contract. However, according to him, he didn't mind being the only rancher to renounce his federal contract. "I don't mind standing out and standing alone," he said.
The event held at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge was spearheaded by an armed group led by Ammon Bundy is occupying a national wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon to protest federal land use policies.
According to Bundy, the federal government has no authority to enforce federal grazing contracts with ranchers. "I'm very happy he came all the way from New Mexico," Bundy said.
Bundy has already met with local ranchers to convince them to tear up their federal contracts.
Critics of Bundy's group also attended the event. They also had different views about the situation. For instance, Kieran Suckling from the Center for Biological Diversity said the leaders of the armed group want to "stage another occupancy like this and to terrorize those towns the same way they have terrorized Burns. There's no town in the west that wants to be the next Burns."
Other attendees, also voiced out their own point of views regarding the event and the situation.
Federal authorities have been trying to resolve the three-week old standoff. However, the authorities have not done anything to counter the acts of the Bundy's group. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has said she's angry because federal authorities have not dealt with Bundy's group.
Meanwhile, Bundy believes that his group's work is appreciated by locals. He told AP the federal government had turned grazing from a "right" to a "privilege."
"What we're doing is making sure it's secured as a right. And (ranchers) will make the decision on how to maintain it, how to care for it, and how to manage," he said.
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