WASHINGTON (August 8, 2024) – Today, leaders of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and Public Lands Council (PLC) issued statements in response to news of the 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’s Office for the District of South Dakota:

“I am deeply disgusted by the Forest Service’s persecution of family ranchers Charles and Heather Maude,” said NCBA President and 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 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 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,” said 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 U.S. Forest Service to rethink their plan to slap handcuffs on these hardworking ranchers and instead pursue an alternative resolution to this issue.”

“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. 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.”

“As 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,” said PLC Executive Director Kaitlynn Glover. “This 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.”

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’s 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’s private land—land the Maude family has stewarded for generations. The Forest Service law enforcement officer who targeted the Maudes and the U.S. Attorney’s 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.