--- title: Oregon Occupiers Dug Trenches Near Artifact Sites, Feds Say description: The FBI is also concerned about booby-traps left at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge canonical: https://time.com/4228778/oregon-occupiers-trenches-native-american/ author: NBC News article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-18T12:11:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T15:10:58.745Z article:section: U.S. og:title: Oregon Occupiers Left Feces and Dug Trenches Near Artifact Sites, Feds Say og:description: The FBI is also concerned about booby-traps left at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge og:url: https://time.com/4228778/oregon-occupiers-trenches-native-american/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt02cf2775dce95a11/69887ac9ab6d773a756a821b/oregon7.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: FILES-US-UNREST-MILITIA-PROTEST og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Oregon Occupiers Left Feces and Dug Trenches Near Artifact Sites, Feds Say twitter:description: The FBI is also concerned about booby-traps left at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt02cf2775dce95a11/69887ac9ab6d773a756a821b/oregon7.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Oregon Occupiers Left Feces and Dug Trenches Near Artifact Sites, Feds Say by [Phil Helsel / NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## Phil Helsel / NBC News Feb 18, 2016 12:11 PM CUT  A man rides a horse at the occupied Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, on the sixth day of the occupation of the federal building, in Burns, Oregon, Jan. 7, 2016. A man rides a horse at the occupied Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, on the sixth day of the occupation of the federal building, in Burns, Oregon, Jan. 7, 2016.Rob Kerry—AFP/Getty Images by [Phil Helsel / NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## Phil Helsel / NBC News Feb 18, 2016 12:11 PM CUT Investigators gathering evidence at the site of an Oregon wildlife refuge that was occupied by armed protesters have found firearms, explosives and trenches dug in land that could contain Native American artifacts, federal prosecutors said. One of the trenches contained human waste. The FBI is also concerned that some of the buildings or vehicles at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge may be booby-trapped, prosecutors said in court documents filed Tuesday. The documents do not say why the FBI is concerned about traps, but gives no indication any devices were found… [Read the rest of the story from our partners at NBC News](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/oregon-occupiers-apparently-dug-trenches-near-artifact-sites-feds-say-n520431 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4228778/oregon-occupiers-trenches-native-american/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4228778/oregon-occupiers-trenches-native-american/"},"headline":"Oregon Occupiers Left Feces and Dug Trenches Near Artifact Sites, Feds Say","datePublished":"2016-02-18T12:11:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:10:58.745Z","description":"The FBI is also concerned about booby-traps left at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge","url":"https://time.com/4228778/oregon-occupiers-trenches-native-american/","keywords":["Crime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt02cf2775dce95a11/69887ac9ab6d773a756a821b/oregon7.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Phil Helsel / NBC News"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt02cf2775dce95a11/69887ac9ab6d773a756a821b/oregon7.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"FILES-US-UNREST-MILITIA-PROTEST","caption":"A man rides a horse at the occupied Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, on the sixth day of the occupation of the federal building, in Burns, Oregon, Jan. 7, 2016.","creditText":"Rob Kerry—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4228778/oregon-occupiers-trenches-native-american/","name":"Oregon Occupiers Left Feces and Dug Trenches Near Artifact Sites, Feds Say"}}]}] ```