WASHINGTON 鈥 Today, leaders of the National Cattlemen鈥檚 Beef Association (NCBA) and Public Lands Council (PLC) issued statements in response to news of the聽indictment of Charles and Heather Maude, multi-generational family ranchers in western South Dakota, by U.S. Forest Service law enforcement officers and the U.S. Attorney鈥檚 Office for the District of South Dakota:
鈥淚 am deeply disgusted by the Forest Service鈥檚 persecution of family ranchers Charles and Heather Maude,鈥 said NCBA President and rancher Mark Eisele. 鈥淭he 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 U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Attorney鈥檚 Office have maliciously targeted and prosecuted these family ranchers, and it鈥檚 clear that if this can happen in South Dakota, government overreach can happen anywhere.”
鈥淭he 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,鈥 said PLC President Mark Roeber, a public lands grazing permittee. 鈥淭his case is a prime example of what can happen when federal agencies view ranchers as enemies, rather than partners. I urge the U.S. Forest Service to rethink their plan to slap handcuffs on these hardworking ranchers and instead pursue an alternative resolution to this issue.鈥
鈥淭he Forest Service鈥檚 actions in this case鈥攅specially the deference they鈥檝e given to a heavy-handed special agent with a long history of abusing permittees鈥攊s absolutely unconscionable,鈥 said NCBA Vice President of Government Affairs Ethan Lane. 鈥淣CBA is actively engaged with Congress to address this situation and find an outcome that protects this family. The Forest Service 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. Secretary Vilsack and the White House must engage now to get control of the Forest Service and the Department of Justice.鈥
鈥淎s active partners with federal agencies, public lands ranchers rely on open, transparent communication with the government. In this case, the U.S. Forest Service apparently decided to abandon decades of collaborative partnership with the Maude family, threatening their family, their ranch, and their land,鈥 said PLC Executive Director Kaitlynn Glover. 鈥淭his kind of law enforcement behavior should never have been allowed to result in criminal charges. PLC is committed to a resolution to this situation that protects the Maude family and ensures the Forest Service is a good partner to ranchers, not a looming threat over every range management decision.鈥
Background
Charles and Heather Maude operate a diversified ranch in western South Dakota raising cattle, hogs, and crops. On June 20, 2024, the U.S. Attorney鈥檚 Office for the District of South Dakota indicted the Maudes on charges of theft of government property related to a small piece of Forest Service land surrounded by the Maude鈥檚 private land鈥攍and the Maude family has stewarded for generations. The Forest Service law enforcement officer who targeted the Maudes and the U.S. Attorney鈥檚 Office have both acted far beyond their scope in pursuing the Maudes, which is why NCBA and PLC are both engaged in protecting the rights of these ranchers.
