Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Headquarters, Oregon

Located in the sparsely populated southeastern quarter of Oregon, this wildlife refuge’s headquarters and visitor center became famous for its occupation by armed protestors in 2016. The occupation lasted from January 2 to February 11, and was largely led and inspired by people involved in the 2014 Bundy Standoff, at Cliven Bundy’s ranch in southern Nevada. Both protests challenged the authority of the federal government to control public lands, similar to other periodic local versus federal control protests and confrontations over the decades generally referred to as the Sagebrush Rebellion. At Malheur, a federally-protected wildlife refuge established by Theodore Roosevelt in 1908 that now covers 188,000 acres, the protest ended when the occupiers finally surrendered to law enforcement, and after one of them was killed.