BURNS, Ore. — The leader of an armed group that is occupying a wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon has spoken with the FBI and there are plans to communicate again today as the standoff over federal land policies nears the three-week mark.

Standing outside the municipal airport in Burns, Oregon, Ammon Bundy spoke by phone Thursday to an unnamed FBI negotiator. The federal agency has used the airport, about 30 miles from the refuge, as a staging ground during the occupation.

The conversation happened a day after Oregon's governor sharply criticized federal authorities for not doing more to remove Bundy's group from the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in the state's high-desert. The FBI did not specifically comment on the Thursday conversation, though it was streamed live online by someone from his group.

Bundy said he went to the airport to meet with FBI officials, but they declined to meet. Bundy said the FBI called him 14 times earlier this week, but he couldn't pick up the phone because he was in a meeting.