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Range War: Indictments of South Dakota ranching couple over land dispute spark outrage
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Range War: Indictments of South Dakota ranching couple over land dispute spark outrage

Charles and Heather Maude ranch land in the family for more than 100 years

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Jonathan Ellis
Sep 20, 2024
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The Dakota Scout
The Dakota Scout
Range War: Indictments of South Dakota ranching couple over land dispute spark outrage
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Charles and Heather Maude with their children. The couple is in a fight against the federal government over a land dispute. Courtesy of Elsie Fortune Photography

South Dakota’s ranching and agriculture industries have unified their support for a West River couple that was indicted by a federal grand jury this summer over allegations they stole federal land.

The indictments against Charles and Heather Maude followed a dispute about the placement of a fence on the family ranch along the Cheyenne River near the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands. The ranch has been in the Maude family since 1910, and the fence in question has been present for decades, say family supporters.

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In the indictments, the two were accused by the United States Department of Agriculture of appropriating 25 acres of grasslands for cultivation and 25 acres for grazing. The family has grazed the land in question for generations and has decades’ of grazing permits on federal portions.

“The fence that was there had been the since the 1950s,” said Scott Edoff, a neighbor and family friend. “They didn’t just move the fence yesterday.”

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