South Dakota ranchers face federal charges

South Dakota Ranchers Charles and Heather Maude were recently indicted on June 20 by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) on charges of “theft of government property” related to a small piece of USFS land surrounded by the Maude’s private land – land the family has stewarded since the early 1900s.

For generations, the Maude family has had a grazing permit with the U.S. Department of Agriculture on the Buffalo Gap National Grassland, managed by the USFS.

According to The Cattle Business Weekly, the charges against the Maudes have sparked widespread criticism, and U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) highlighted discrepancies between the cooperative plan originally agreed upon and the aggressive legal action taken in a letter to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.

Rounds called the indictments for theft of government property served on the Maudes an overzealous prosecution of a ranching family. 

Charles and Heather have been indicted separately, meaning each of them must retain their own legal counsel – adding to their legal fees – and if found guilty, each faces thousands of dollars in fines and/or imprisonment of up to 10 years.

Showing support

On Aug. 8, leaders of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and Public Lands Council (PLC) issued statements in response to news of the Maude family’s indictment by USFS law enforcement officers and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Dakota.

“I am deeply disgusted by USFS’s persecution of family ranchers Charles and Heather Maude,” says NCBA President and Wyoming Rancher Mark Eisele. “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.”

“The USFS and U.S. Attorney’s Office have maliciously targeted and prosecuted these family ranchers, and it’s clear if this can happen in South Dakota, government overreach can happen anywhere,” he adds.

“The Maude family are public lands permittees in good standing, and they have always been the first to step forward as constructive partners in federal land management,” says PLC President Mark Roeber, a public lands grazing permittee. “This case is a prime example of what can happen when federal agencies view ranchers as enemies, rather than partners. I urge the USFS to rethink their plan to slap handcuffs on these hardworking ranchers and instead pursue an alternative resolution to this issue.”

“The USFS 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,” states NCBA Vice President of Government Affairs Ethan Lane. “NCBA is actively engaged with Congress to address this situation and find an outcome to protects this family.”

Lane continues, “USFS has a long, shameful history of creating confrontation with ranchers in South Dakota, and their escalation to imprisonment over a century-old fence line has shaken the confidence of permittees nationwide. Vilsack and the White House must engage now to get control of the USFS and the Department of Justice.”

PLC Executive Director Kaitlynn Glover also published a statement, saying, “As active partners with federal agencies, public lands ranchers rely on open, transparent communication with the government. In this case, the USFS apparently decided to abandon decades of collaborative partnership with the Maude family, threatening their family, their ranch and their land.”

“This kind of law enforcement behavior should never have been allowed to result in criminal charges,” Glover adds. “PLC is committed to a resolution to this situation to protect the Maude family and ensure the USFS is a good partner to ranchers, not a looming threat over every range management decision.”

Many others are urging a quick resolution to this issue, including R-CALF USA Property Rights Committee Chairman Shad Sullivan and President Brett Kenzy who made a joint statement in a letter to Vilsack.

In a recent social media post, Heather says, “We have retained attorneys and have been advised to wait until evidence is released to speak about it. We have been waiting for evidence for almost a month longer than anticipated.”

She continues, “What we are facing is unprecedented – this is a civil issue with resolution methods in place which we were actively seeking at the time we were indicted. Criminally charging a husband and wife in this type of situation has not happened before.”

Melissa Anderson is the editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.