The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Dakota has indicted Charles and Heather Maude on charges of theft of government property. The charges are related to a small piece of U.S. Forest Service land surrounded by the Maudes’ private land, which the family has stewarded for generations.
“The Maude family has been ranching in South Dakota for five generations and Charles and Heather have spent their lives protecting natural resources, investing in their land and raising their children,” said NCBA President and rancher Mark Eisele. “The U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Attorney’s Office have maliciously targeted and prosecuted these family ranchers, and it’s clear that if this can happen in South Dakota, government overreach can happen anywhere.”
The Maudes own a diversified operation in western South Dakota where they raise cattle, hogs and crops. They also are public land permittees in good standing. According to NCBA, the Forest Service law enforcement officer who targeted the family and the U.S. Attorney’s Office both have acted far beyond their scope in pursuing the family. Both NCBA and the Public Lands Council (PLC) are engaged in protecting the rights of these ranchers.
“The Forest Service’s actions in this case—especially the deference they’ve given to a heavy-handed special agent with a long history of abusing permittees—is absolutely unconscionable,” said NCBA Vice President of Government Affairs Ethan Lane. “NCBA is actively engaged with Congress to address this situation and find an outcome that protects this family.”
Lane said the Forest Service has a history of creating conflict with South Dakota ranchers and their escalation to imprisonment over a century-old fence line has shaken the confidence of permittees nationwide.