Editor's Note: This is the second of a two-part special series about the Maude family's fence line dispute with the U.S. Forest Service. The dispute for the South Dakota family started in March 2024 and ended more than a year later after a drawn-out legal battle. Today, we look at how the family survived the indictment, what happened next, and the steps they took to hopefully protect their ranch legacy for the future.

To read the first story in the series, go to SD Land Dispute Ended - 1, "The Maudes and the US Forest Service: How a Fence Line Dispute Almost Tore a Family Apart," at https://www.dtnpf.com/….

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CAPUTA, S.D. (DTN) -- On March 29, 2024, Charles and Heather Maude saw just another busy day at their fifth-generation farm and ranch in western South Dakota be interrupted by an unexpected visit from a couple of U.S. Forest Service staffers.

Within 90 days, what seemed like a minor land boundary misunderstanding with the government -- involving land that generations of the family have ranched since 1910 -- turned into criminal felony indictments being served individually to the Maudes, who live near Caputa, South Dakota.

The government believed that an old fence built in a non-straight line by Charles' great-grandfather more than 75 years ago -- which generations of the family used as a boundary line between their land and National Grasslands managed by the USDA -- had led to stolen land being used by the family. The indictment stated they "did knowingly steal, purloin and convert to their own use ... approximately 25 acres of National Grasslands for cultivation and approximately 25 acres of National Grasslands for grazing cattle ..."

If they were convicted, Heather and Charles each faced up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000.

After the indictment, the young couple had to create a conservatorship agreement for their children in case Charles and Heather ended up going to jail.

It was especially challenging for them to plan for their family's future, because the couple was restricted on what they could even talk about with each other. At a court hearing, the judge revoked their right to discuss the case with one another, among other things. So even though through marriage they were considered united as one and they owned the business together, they could not talk about the case. They even were forced to have separate lawyers.

PRAYED A LOT

"We had some decisions to make as a family. We are Christians, so we sat down together and prayed a lot," Heather told DTN this past fall at the ranch.

"We explained to our kids that just because you are good doesn't mean bad things can't happen. All those conversations as a family, and then we knew that we had done nothing wrong. We hadn't. We just weren't going to let them steamroll us."

Heather then put all her energy and effort into taking on the government while Charles went outside and tried to keep the farm and ranch going without much help. The family raises cattle and hogs on about 400 acres.

Heather researched their rights. She looked into land ownership, government programs, different government acts and the clauses attached to them. She educated herself on the criminal court system. The media started calling, but the family couldn't talk about the issue. "I think western landowners, not just agricultural producers, saw they needed to know what was going to happen. What would the precedent be from our case?" she said.

But then big changes happened in the U.S.: President Donald Trump was elected to return to the White House, and the Republicans were now in control of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate.

POLITICAL CHANGES INFLUENCE THE CASE

After the change in the administration occurred in Washington, D.C., in early 2025, the Maude case in South Dakota turned more political.

Senator Mike Rounds, R-S.D., became heavily involved because he had been involved with the Maude/U.S. Forest Service dispute before the case was determined to be criminal. Even with restrictions on the political officials, those who wanted to be involved could -- to a point.

During the last week of March 2025, a year from when the whole situation started, the Maudes were asked to gather all the paperwork history that had to do with the acres in question. They went through the boxes.

"We were told, 'No one has this,'" Heather told DTN.

"But the Maudes have it," she added, with a laugh. "I went through it all. Anything from the bank, old farm record books, and there it was ... all of the history of Forest Service paperwork from back to 1910."

The Maudes were asked to submit all their paperwork to the new Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins. This was done through Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., who along with Sen. Rounds and Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., had become involved with the case.

Along the way, the Maudes were given the names of many people others thought could help with their case. One in particular was former U.S. attorney Brett Tolman, who had been following the case. While Heather wasn't able to tell him her entire story, because of a court gag order, he asked questions she was able to answer. He told her this was likely a case of lawfare where the federal government comes against a citizen in an unlawful way.

Dictionaries define lawfare as the use of strategic legal action or proceedings to cause problems for an opponent, or to use them to intimidate or hinder an opponent.

Heather told Tolman they had been asked to submit documentation of her case to Rollins. He said he would make some calls.

GOOD NEWS ARRIVES

By the end of the day on Friday, April 25 -- only a few days after Easter -- it was announced the criminal charges against Charles and Heather Maude had been dropped.

They spent the weekend branding cattle and while they were told not to tell the world, they did tell their families. "I told them, I'm telling our mothers. Mothers deserve to know," Heather said. On Sunday, they received a text from Tolman to buy plane tickets to Washington so they can be there for a press conference with Rollins on Wednesday, April 30 -- just three days later.

On April 28, USDA issued a press release publicly announcing the Trump administration has dropped the charges. "This family has endured a senseless politically motivated prosecution waged by the Biden administration over 25 acres of federal land. Government resources for prosecution should be focused on true criminals, not a family farm trying to make ends meet.

"The Maudes are not criminals. They have worked their land since the early 1900s and something that should have been a minor civil land dispute that was over and done with quickly turned into an overzealous criminal prosecution on a hardworking family that was close to losing their home, children, and livelihood. Not in this America, not under President Trump," the press release quoted Rollins. The release added that the Maude family would be in Washington two days later for an in-person press conference. (https://www.usda.gov/…)

Meanwhile, the family was scrambling to get to Washington for the event.

"We bought our tickets and did all the preparation to be gone for a few days," Heather said. "We bought our kids some new clothes and proceeded to fly across the country."

A NEW EXPERIENCE

Washington provided new experiences for the ranch family. This included the first plane ride for the children and being in a very large city. "We were stuffed into this little hotel room after a whole day of travel and the kids were going nuts." Even though they were exhausted, "We didn't get much sleep," Heather recalled.

Prior to the press conference, their attorney explained to the Maudes that only 1-5% of criminal cases ever get dismissed and of the 95-99% convicted, 75% of those people go to jail.

While the criminal case had been dismissed, a civil case remained, but the attorney wasn't as concerned about civil charges and reassured the Maudes it would be a much easier thing to deal with. The attorney told them to pause and appreciate that they had just accomplished the impossible and that the civil charges would get squashed.

In the hustle and bustle of getting halfway across the country, Charles said it really hit home for him when they could walk into the USDA building and walk around the security with Secretary Rollins to a room that had their name on it for them to wait for the press conference to start.

The Maudes arrived at the National Mall outside USDA headquarters to have a press conference with Rollins, 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 that they were told to find alternatives to raise their young children," Rollins said at the press conference.

As several of the other leaders in attendance voiced their frustration with the Biden administration for allowing this case to continue as it had, Rollins continued, "Thanks to the leadership and unequivocal and bold leadership of President Trump and his directive to put Americans first, we have the pleasure to announce that the criminal prosecution of the Maudes is now over. They will not be driven from their home, they will not be jailed, they will not be fined, and their children will grow up with the mother and the father they love and who love them."

Senator Rounds said in a statement following the press conference that he was glad hard work and common sense prevailed. He added the government overreach never should have happened in the first place. "We must continue our work to stop this from ever happening again," Rounds said.

After the event, the Maudes met with several government officials and organization leaders to thank them for their help on the case. Their months of support had helped make the difference to save this family.

RETURN TO THE RANCH

When the Maudes returned to their quiet western South Dakota ranch, they knew the entire situation wasn't completely resolved.

"We never touched the acres in question after the May 1 (2024) meeting (with USFS). We harvested our side, but once they (USFS) staked that ground, we respected the process," Heather said. "We couldn't run our pivot because it would have crossed some of that ground."

In July 2025, the Maudes finally had the USDA understanding that a resolution still needed to be made. Ag Secretary Rollins said she would get an agreement to the Maudes. A permanent change had to be made to the grazing permit for both parties to sign, but if the Maudes had signed the first draft, they would've been in violation of the permit if they continued existing practices. Once the final agreement was hashed out and written properly, both parties signed it on Sept. 2, 2025.

"Charles then could plant something on the entire field, which was a lot of work, because the Forest Service side had weeds over 5 feet tall. We could also run the pivot at that point, and it got watered as well," Heather added.

PURCHASE AGREEMENT FINALLY PRODUCED

A conversation with the Chief of the Forest Service, Tom Schultz, determined the best course of action for resolution would be to utilize the Small Tracts Act for the Maudes to purchase the two lots on the west side of the fence.

This Act, originally passed in 1983, is a U.S. law that allows the Forest Service to sell, exchange or interchange small parcels of National Forest System land to resolve land disputes.

A survey crew was sent out to appraise the land and on Oct. 27, 2025, the Maudes received a purchase agreement from the U.S. Forest Service. After having it reviewed, the Maudes were finally able to purchase two tracts of about 50 acres of ground on Nov. 14, 2025.

This was 20 months after the fence line and land boundary challenge had all begun with a hunter alerting the USFS to a "No Trespassing" sign the family's ancestors posted on a 75-year-old fence. And which then led to the question: Where was the official boundary between private and government land?

The Maudes have never been presented with the name of the hunter -- and said they don't know if that person even exists.

They also probably never will know the entire reasoning or situation behind what, when, and why this all started in March 2024.

While all charges have been dropped and land ownership has been resolved, the Maudes are relieved, yet unsure if the process is completely over.

For now, they are thankful to have the worst of it behind them. "God bless American agriculture. Here's to another 115 years of the Maude family farming and ranching on the Cheyenne River in western South Dakota," Heather concluded.

"We still don't have answers why all this happened," said their neighbor, South Dakota cattle rancher J.T. Rickenbach, of Oelrichs, South Dakota.

Rickenbach added, "These people had to live under that indictment and purchase feed because they couldn't use that ground to raise the feed they needed for their cows. This is as complicated a situation as we have seen when it comes to land issues."

The U.S. Forest Service did not directly answer questions sent by DTN, but forwarded a statement from the USDA which said, "The Biden-Harris administration turned something that should have been a minor civil land dispute into an overzealous criminal prosecution of a hardworking family with threats of jail time and risk of losing their home, children, and livelihood. President Trump is putting an end to the lawfare waged by the Biden-Harris administration and USDA has been proud to support this effort by ending the politically motivated persecution of the Maude family."

In a statement, Rollins reassured people this would not happen to any other farmer or rancher. She directed individuals who are currently enduring lawfare conducted by USDA to visit www.usda.gov/lawfare and submit a form.

Also see, "Ag Secretary Targets Biden-Era 'Overreach,' https://www.dtnpf.com/… .

Jennifer Carrico can be reached at jennifer.carrico@dtn.com

Follow her on social platform X @JennCattleGal

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