The U.S. secretaries of Agriculture and Homeland Security on April 30 shined a spotlight on a South Dakota ranch family that had been facing federal charges under the Biden administration over a fencing dispute with the U.S. Forest Service.
Republican officials leveled charges of extreme government overreach by the previous administration with attempts to “make felons out of farmers.”
In a case that drew attention from cattlemen’s groups and western landowners, Charles and Heather Maude were facing federal theft charges over a fence line dispute with the Forest Service that involved a center pivot on their ground that crossed over into Forest Service land.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins led a press conference outside USDA headquarters on the National Mall with the Maude family, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem—the former South Dakota governor—and other officials from South Dakota and Wyoming. They announced charges against the family had been dropped by the Trump administration.
“This family was targeted solely over what should have been a minor civil dispute over grazing rights on 25 acres of public land was prosecuted, credibly threatened with jail sentences so extreme that they were told to find alternatives to raise their young children,” Rollins said.
Rollins reached back 250 years to the battles of Lexington and Concord to point out the country was founded by average people fighting against a tyrannical government filled with people who believed they could do as they wish against everyday Americans. Rollins called the prosecution of the Maude family, “in the words of Thomas Jefferson, a fire bell in the night.”
To respond to what she said was “egregious lawfare from the Biden administration,” Rollins announced USDA is launching a portal on the USDA website for producers to share details about government overreach.
“We are ending regulation by prosecution in America and investigating how and why this wrongful prosecution of an American ranching family ever occurred in the first place,” Rollins said.
The Maudes operate a ranch and farm that is now in its fifth generation in Pennington County, SD, not far from Mount Rushmore. The couple farms 400 acres, raises 250 head of cattle and has about 40 sows. Their property is adjacent to the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands, which is administered by the Forest Service.
Heather Maude, speaking for the family, noted about their couple’s family history, “Our families have a combined 250-plus years in production agriculture,” she said, saying there was a pause when members of the family fought for the country in World War II. Maude became emotional thanking R-CALF USA and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, which took up their cause.
“When this hit, it hit at the heart and soul of our place, that it’s been in Charles’ family since 1910,” Heather Maude said.
She also thanked others, including neighbors. “Our neighbors who stood up for us at the threat of retribution to their operations that they still face until we get this completely resolved,” Heather Maude said. “And we are so thankful for the efforts that are being rolled out today to help make progress in the right direction.” — Chris Clayton, DTN ag policy editor
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