Photo Courtesy of Elsie Fortune Photography
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced Monday evening that the overzealous criminal prosecution of family ranchers Charles and Heather Maude is over.
Secretary Rollins’ announcement today is welcome news both for the Maude family who have endured arduous court appearances, legal fees, and the threat of prison time, as well as for family ranchers across the West who feared heavy-handed legal pressure from the last administration. The support of grassroots cattle industry leaders from around the country was also crucial to achieving this victory.
“No family farmer or rancher should have to go through what the Maude family did,” said NCBA President Buck Wehrbein, a Nebraska cattleman. “The targeted prosecution of the Maude family was way out of line for the U.S. Forest Service, and this was a clear example of government overreach that had direct, catastrophic impacts for a hardworking fifth-generation ranching family.”
Under the Biden Administration, Charles and Heather Maude were indicted on federal charges of “theft of federal property,” as the result of a disputed fence line with the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and a small parcel in the family’s pasture that had been managed the same way since the early 1900s. Despite the Maudes engaging in good faith with USFS to address the boundary dispute, USFS diverted from normal protocol. Armed federal agents served the Maudes with federal summons where Charles and Heather were charged separately, requiring them to each retain their own attorney and subjecting each to penalties of up to 10 years in federal prison and fines up to $250,000.
“Charles and Heather Maude are public lands ranchers who for decades held a federal grazing permit and were permittees in good standing,” said PLC President and Colorado rancher Tim Canterbury, a federal grazing permittee. “As permittees, we are required to work collaboratively with the government, but when federal agencies view ranchers as the enemy, it threatens the trust that every single rancher has in their federal partners. The public outcry we saw on behalf of the Maudes goes to show that public lands ranchers everywhere are breathing a sigh of relief that the USDA under Secretary Rollins is no longer trying to slap handcuffs on hardworking farmers and ranchers.”
“This case was an unfortunate example of the imbalance of power between family ranchers and a formidable federal government. Put simply, the Maude family was expected to bear the burden of an inefficient and unfair Forest Service process, and their story had a chilling effect on ranchers’ trust in federal land management agencies they interact with daily,” said Executive Director of PLC and NCBA Natural Resources Kaitlynn Glover. “Both the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the Public Lands Council are pleased that our months-long campaign to find a good solution for Charles, Heather, and their kids has finally become a reality.”