content: "The Bundy's claim the federal gov. forced several ranchers off their land in order to make the refuge they are currently occupying. Wouldn't this be public knowledge and easily verifiable." This is true as far as I know. I haven't found anything either way about the poacher claim. But what I have read is that the testimony the court used was from a 13 year old - taken at least 5 years after the incident. Here is some nice raw data about the region and the BLM "holdings" in that region: http://pubs.usgs.gov/bul/1740b/report.pdf Here is info from "tri state livestock news" on he situation: http://www.tsln.com/news/18837869-113/where-theres-smoke "In an effort to stave off what they feared was a pending Clinton/Babbitt monument designation in 2000, a group of ranchers on the scenic Steens Mountain worked with Oregon Representative Greg Walden, a Republican, to draft and enact the Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Act that would prevent such a deed. The ranchers agreed to work with special interest “environmental” groups like the aggressive Oregon Natural Desert Association and others to protect the higher-than 10,000-foot peak. A number of ranchers at the top of the mountain traded their BLM permits and private property for land on the valley floor, allowing Congress to create a 170,000 acre wilderness in 2000, with almost 100,000 acres being “cow-free.” “The last holdouts on that cow-free wilderness are the Hammonds,” said Maupin. Though some still have BLM grazing permits, the Hammonds are the last private landowners in the area. “It’s become more and more obvious over the years that the BLM and the wildlife refuge want that ranch. It would tie in with what they have,” said Rusty Inglis, an area rancher and retired U.S. Forest Service employee. The Hammonds also lost their ability to water cattle on one BLM permit when refuge personnel drained a watering hole that the Hammonds had always used."