This is 99% invisible. I'm Roman Mars.

Most of the American West is owned by the federal government,

about 85% of Nevada, 61% of Alaska, and 53% of Oregon.

The list goes on.

And there have always been questions about how this immense swath of land

should be used.

Should we allow ranchers to graze cattle or should the Western land be a place

where wild animals can roam free and be protected or is it land we want to reserve for recreation?

As you can imagine there is no consensus on the answers to those

questions, but there are a lot of strong feelings and over the years those

strong feelings have sometimes bubbled up to the surface and manifested in protests and even violence.

In 2016, a group of armed militants occupied Malhear National Wildlife Refuge in Western Oregon.

They were led by a cattle rancher by the name of Ammon Bundy, the son of Cliven Bundy. Perhaps you heard about it, but never really understood exactly what it was all about. Well, today, we bring you a story from Long Reed's and Oregon public

broadcasting reported by Lea Satilly and it's the first in a series they put together that

looks deeply into the fascinating and even sometimes wonky details of how the American

West is managed, why the Bundies are so angry about it and the religious ideology

that undergirds their fight against the federal government.

It's an amazing series that spins a good yarn that also resonates with so many aspects of current

U.S. politics.

It's also about land management, which is really exciting for me personally.

This is episode one of Bundiville.

Here's Leah Sotilly.

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