AUGUST 14, 2024:
Following the indictments of South Dakota cattle ranchers Charles and Heather Maude, R-CALF USA has urged the Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Forest Service and the Department of Justice to immediately drop all charges against the couple, encouraging a common-sense solution.
In June 2024, the Maude’s of Caputa, South Dakota, were individually indicted on charges of theft of government property. The couple are accused of stealing and modifying a USFS Grazing Allotment of about 25 acres, owned and managed by the Maude family, free of infraction or rule violation, for over 100 years. Having been charged separately, the couple must retain two attorneys and are each facing up to 10 years in prison and fines up to $250,000.
“The abuse of power exerted by the USFS in their sealed indictments for theft of government property against Charles and Heather Maude, is not only erroneous but retaliatory in nature. These actions must be reined in immediately,” said R-CALF USA Property Rights Chair Shad Sullivan.
In a letter to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, R-CALF USA outlined the events and concerns with the USFS actions including a “lack of common-sense knowledge by USFS regarding the fact that dated and primitive survey boundaries are often imperfect,” the lack of communication by USFS employees, and the incredibly nefarious manner in which each indictment was received.
The letter concludes, “The Maude family are generational community members and upstanding citizens focused on land stewardship and food production. We encourage the USDA, USFS and the DOJ to effectively communicate with the Maude family to find a common-sense solution to what has become a nation-wide issue. We urge your agencies to restrain from overreach and from exercising abusive power in their duties.”
AUGUST 8, 2024:
Leaders of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and Public Lands Council are speaking out against action taken by federal authorities that has resulted in charges being brought against family ranchers in western South Dakota.
Charles and Heather Maude operate a diversified ranch, raising cattle, hogs and crops. In June (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 piece of U.S. Forest Service land surrounded by land owned by the Maudes for five generations.
NCBA President and Wyoming rancher Mark Eisele says the Maudes have spent their lives protecting natural resources, investing in their land and raising their children. He says 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.”
PLC Executive Director Kaitlynn Glover says as partners with federal agencies, public lands ranchers rely on open, transparent communication with the government. In this case, she says the U.S. Forest Service threatened “their family, their ranch, and their land.” She says this kind of behavior by law enforcement “should never have been allowed to result in criminal charges.”
The NCBA and PLC say the Forest Service law enforcement officer who targeted the Maudes and the U.S. Attorney’s Office have both acted far beyond their authority in pursuing the Maudes.
“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.”
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