This Land Is Your Land. Or Is It?

Since last weekend, armed men have been in control of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon. Incensed by the sentencing of local ranchers to jail time for burning public lands, the protesters want the federal government out of the land business. Their stated goal is to return the refuge to the locals so that “people can reclaim their resources.” But this raises an important question:
Why does justice demand that the land and resources belong to the locals instead of the commons? What makes property private?