Leaders of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the Public Lands Council were not happy about the indictment of Charles and Heather Maude, family ranchers in western South Dakota. “I’m deeply disgusted by the Forest Service’s persecution of Charles and Heather,” says NCBA President Mark Eisele. On June 20, 2024, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in South Dakota indicted them on charges of theft of government property related to a small piece of Forest Service land surrounded by the Maude’s private land.
The family has stewarded that government land for generations. “The Forest Service’s deference to the heavy-handed special agent with a long history of abusing permittees is unconscionable,” says NCBA V.P. of Government Affairs Ethan Lane. The groups say the Forest Service has a long and shameful history of confronting ranchers in South Dakota, and their escalation to imprisonment over a century-old fence line has shaken the confidence of every permittee.
-NAFB