Numbers released from the federal government show that officials tasked with patrolling public lands and forests are dealing with a growing number of assaults on the job.
The US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) reported that abusive incidents against its officers rose by 87 percent last year. The US Forest Service (USFS) reported a 60 percent uptick in violence against its employees.
The data was released by the agencies in response to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests filed by the watchdog group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).
“Security is a rising concern for scientists and other specialists working in the remote Western outposts,” the group’s Executive Director Jeff Ruch said in a statement on Tuesday.
PEER noted that data covers a reporting period between two high-profile acts of aggression against federal land officers by domestic extremists: the Bundy Ranch standoff, in 2014, and the armed takeover of Oregon’s Malheur Wildlife Refuge, at the beginning of 2016. The former was led by a rancher named Cliven Bundy; the latter was led by one of his sons, Ammon Bundy.
“These right-wing militias constitute a real public safety threat, especially on federal lands in the Sagebrush West,” Ruch added, referring to an area of land covering roughly eleven Western states.
There were 28 reported assaults and threats against BLM agents last year—up from 15 in 2015. It was the highest number since 2005, when the agency dealt with 29 cases.
The number of incidents against USFS employees increased last year from 97 to 155 last year. The total, however, is down from its peak of 427 incidents in 2009.
Both the National Park Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also reported increases in violent acts against its agents in 2015.
The US Park Police and the Fish and Wildlife Service, meanwhile, reported declines in violence against officials last year.
PEER began compiling the annual numbers of violence against federal officers in 1995, following the bombing of Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
The group has been critical of the US government’s protection of federal employees from militia threats.
In January, PEER blamed the government’s inaction against Bundy Ranch standoff participants for emboldening future acts of militant aggression–especially considering the family ties between the two incidents. Ruch claimed that the 40-day occupation of the Malheaur refuge stemmed from the feds’ “lack of a coherent response to earlier confrontations with anti-government extremists.”
