Charles and Heather Maude, a western South Dakota farm and ranch couple, have been indicted for theft of federal property. The summons, served June 24, 2024, charged that the Maudes, “Beginning at a time unknown, but no later than December, 2020…did knowingly steal, purloin and convert to their own use National Grasslands managed by the United States Department of Agriculture, a department and agency of the United States, namely, approximately, 25 acres of National Grasslands for cultivation and approximately 25 acres of National Grasslands for grazing cattle, having a value in excess of $1,000 and did aid and abet each other, all in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 641 and 2.”
The summons, signed by Alison J. Ramsdell, United States Attorney, charges them separately, which means they must retain two attorneys and they could each be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison and fined up to $250,000.
At issue is a property boundary between the Maudes and the U.S. Forest Service. The fence in question and the management practices the USFS is alleging are “theft” have been in place for generations.
MAUDE FAMILY HISTORY
According to longtime neighbor Scott Edoff, Charles’ great-great-grandparents, Thomas and Rose Maude bought the land adjacent to the USFS land in question in 1910 and a member of the Maude family has operated that land, and the USFS property adjacent, since then.
A member of the Maude family has held a U. S. Forest Service National Grasslands grazing allotment in good standing since the inception of that agency, he said.
“This is just crazy,” said Edoff, who is also a past-president of the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association and past-president of the state Public Lands Council organization.
Edoff said Charles and Heather Maude own the land on three sides of the property in question and that the Cheyenne River is the fourth boundary of the two lots in question. Part of Maudes’ property bordering the southern lot in question has been fenced in and managed by the USFS for decades, he said.
“Charles’ great grandfather had an irrigation ditch for about a mile crossing that property. They allowed him to put that ditch in and irrigate that bottom,” said Edoff.
“They lost so much water through the years from it going into the ground that they started pumping it out of the river,” he said, explaining that Charles and Heather updated the water system from a big gun irrigation system to a pivot in 2020, the date the indictment indicates the “theft” occurred. The permanent components of the pivot are all on private property, with the outermost portion passing over some of the acres in question.
Edoff said he understands that Charles’ great grandfather offered to purchase the lots in question in the 1950s.
“The Maude family has signed grazing agreements with the Forest Service every year since the Forest Service came into existence,” said Edoff. “The Forest Service never once told them to cease and desist on how they were using that land. They never have gotten a letter from the Forest Service telling them not to farm it,” said Edoff.
ANOTHER RANCHER SURVEYED
USFS special agent Travis Lunders, a law enforcement officer with USFS who initially contacted the Maudes about the property at issue, also approached rancher Frank Bloom, who shares a fenceline with the Maude family.
Bloom said the agent just completed what he assumes was a four-day survey near his house. “They trespassed all over my land,” said Bloom.
Bloom said he will not be surprised if he is indicted as Charles and Heather were. The fence along Bloom’s property that appears to be in question was replaced in 2003 with USFS approval, said Bloom.
Lunders did not tell Bloom why they were surveying his property.
Bloom said he would like to visit with the USFS about resolutions. “We could sit down and resolve this easily,” he said. Bloom said he has 11 acres of Buffalo Gap National Grasslands fenced into his private land, but 40 acres of his private land is fenced into the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands.
Timeline of Events
South Dakota Senator Rounds, in a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, outlines a timeline of events since Lunders first contacted the Maudes.
Rounds said the following is his understanding of the Maudes’ interaction with the USFS:
- March 29, 2024 – The Maudes were notified of a complaint received by USDA saying a fence between their property and adjacent Buffalo Gap National Grasslands property blocked access to Buffalo Gap National Grasslands.
- May 1, 2024 – The Maudes met with USFS District Ranger Julie Wheeler to discuss a boundary discrepancy regarding the fenceline. USFS special agent Travis Lunders was also present. The USFS and Maudes agreed a survery should be completed, which could take up to a year, but following the survey completion there were three possible administrative steps that could be taken.
- May 6, 2024 – Special Agent Lunders escorted a crew to perform a survey of the land. The Maudes did not participate in the survey and have not received survey results.
- June 24, 2024 – The Maudes were summoned to appear in U.S. District Court, having been indicted for theft of government property.
“This action represents a direct conflict to an agreed upon plan, wherein the landowners were working cooperatively with the USFS to resolve the issue,” said the Rounds letter.
SOLUTIONS EXIST
Public Lands Council executive director Kaitlynn Glover said the criminal charges against the Maudes are “out of line with any other conflict resolution that the USFS has undertaken in boundary cases.”
The Rounds letter references the Small Tracts Act, which allows the USFS to trade or sell tracts less then 40 acres under certain circumstances.
The Association of National Grasslands President Ty Checketts, a rural Newcastle, Wyoming rancher also mentioned the Small Tracts Act as a possible resolution.
The ANG is made up of members that include grazing associations and also direct permittees.
“My biggest concern when I heard of Charles and Heather being indicted was they didn’t have a chance to work this out,” said Checketts.
“I was sick to my stomach, I had no idea the Forest Service special investigation unit would do this to anyone,” he said.
“This is uncharacteristic of the Forest Service. It’s very strange, very scary to everyone.”
Checketts said that he believes this could have been handled in a much more peaceful and resolution-driven manner. “Their district ranger could have come and said ‘hey we have an issue, let’s get together and talk this out.’”
“Both Charles Maude and Heather Maude are willing to work this out. Also the Forest Service has the Small Tracts Act, they could have used that to resolve this issue,” he said.
The Small Tracts Act was updated in 2020:
“The rule amends agency regulations to allow use of changes to the Small Tracts Act. Amendments include the authority to sell, exchange, or interchange small parcels of land that are 40 acres or less, and that are physically isolated, inaccessible or lack national forest characteristics. The amendments also grant the Forest Service authority to convey parcels of land that are 10 acres or less where landowners have made permanent, habitable improvements, and where the encroachment was neither intentional nor negligent,” explains the U.S. Forest Service website.
“The Maudes should not have been indicted over century old boundary issues,” said Checketts.
“Most of the time the Forest Service is good to work with. They sit down and work things out,” he said.
“There has never been a greater need than right now to be united as ranchers to protect long term grazing rights,” said Checketts.
INDUSTRY-WIDE SUPPORT
Edoff said many other individuals and groups have or will send a letter to Vilsack, urging him to find a quick resolution to this issue. Those groups include National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, Rancher’s Cattlemen Legal Action Fund-United Stockgrowers of America, United States Cattlemen’s Association, Public Lands Council, Association of National Grasslands, South Dakota Farm Bureau, South Dakota Stockgrowers Association, South Dakota Cattlemen’s Association, South Dakota Farmers Union, South Dakota Public Lands Council, Wyoming Farm Bureau, Wyoming House of Representatives Majority Floor Leader Chip Neiman, Pennington County Fire administrator, many South Dakota and Wyoming County Commissions, and others.
“Maudes have done something we could never do,” said Edoff. “They have brought us all together on one issue. I’m kind of proud of everyone who has put their political differences aside to stand up for this salt-of-the-earth, hardworking farm and ranch family.”
NCBA president and Wyoming rancher Mark Eisele said in a joint press release with the Public Lands Council, “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.”
Glover said the situation is not a call to arms, but a cautionary tale and this should be treated as an isolated instance.
“When you have something that shakes the faith of permittees and shakes the faith, frankly, of range cons in the institutional structure of the Forest Service, it can feel like this is your fight to take up, too,” Glover said. “This is one law enforcement official acting outside their bounds, this is one case where this behavior must not continue, this is one case that must not be repeated. And so this family, this community, they’re rallying around to support the (Maudes) and they’re working the appropriate channels using the tools at their disposal through local government, state government, national associations to fix this problem and if it is to be fixed, it will be through those channels.”
Lane said many elected officials in DC are displeased with investigator’s aggressive strategy that sidelined the Maudes’ efforts to peacefully resolve the issue.
“It didn’t take us long to go through the paces to get to the bottom of what was happening in South Dakota and that conversation was received in exactly the same kind of anger we received it when we took it up to Capitol Hill and started talking to folks on the Natural Resources Committee,” Lane said. “Chairman (Bruce) Westerman (R-Ark.) and his staff are acutely aware of this long history of abuse by the Forest Service in this part of the world.”
“They’re digging into this making sure they have their facts straight, making sure they have the whole scope of the issue,” Lane said. “We’re hopeful that will bear some fruit in the next few weeks as far as a larger conversation outside of the dark corners of the U.S. Forest Service as far as just what the hell they’re doing up there and why they think it’s appropriate to threaten a husband and wife, mother and father, with federal prison over a fence line that has ostensibly been in the same spot since 1950.”
“It’s absolutely unconscionable, but unfortunately it was not a big education job to explain to folks on Capitol Hill what the Forest Service is up to here because they’ve heard too much of this in the past,” Lane said.
R-CALF USA Property Rights Committee Chairman Shad Sullivan and President Brett Kenzy made a joint statement in a letter to Secretary Vilsack. “Secretary Vilsack, 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. I respectfully ask that you immediately drop all charges against Charles and Heather Maude.”
The R-CALF letter also expressed concern over the USFS “lack of common sense regarding the fact that dated and primitive survey boundaries are often imperfect,” and “the lack of communication by USFS employees after Mrs. Maude politely requested to be personally informed when USFS employees cross onto their private property when navigating to the Maude-owned allotment….and the manner in which each individual received personal indictments, unannounced by armed USFS Special Agent Travis Lunders, seems incredibly nefarious and retaliatory.”
Edoff said he continues to hope for a positive resolution.
“I don’t think Charles has ever so much as had a speeding ticket,” said Edoff. “He is a good, hard-working American. He volunteers as one of our county fire chiefs. He is dedicated to his family and community, the kind of neighbor everyone wants,” said Edoff.
USFS special agent Travis Lunders declined to comment. The U.S. District Court attorney and Troy Heithecker, Rocky Mountain Regional Forester did not respond to interview requests.