PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The U.S. Bureau of Land Management in the final days of the Trump administration has issued a grazing permit to Oregon ranchers whose imprisonment sparked the armed takeover of a federal wildlife refuge.
Oregon Public Broadcasting reports that Interior Secretary David Bernhardt restored Dwight and Steven Hammond's grazing permit, which lasts for 10 years.
The Hammonds had it revoked after a jury convicted them in 2012 for arson on public lands.
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The men went to prison, served time and were released, but the U.S. Department of Justice later ordered them back to prison to finish the mandatory minimum five-year sentence. That kicked off the 41-day armed occupation of the national wildlife refuge.
