Prosecution of South Dakota ranching family dropped; USDA opens portal for similar complaints

At a news conference, Secretary Brooke Rollins announced that federal prosecutors have dropped criminal charges against Charles and Heather Maud, a fifth‑generation ranching family from Pennington County, South Dakota, and said USDA has opened a portal for farmers and ranchers to report similar alleged "lawfare."

The Mauds had faced criminal allegations tied to grazing on about 25 acres adjoining Buffalo Gap National Grasslands, land administered by the U.S. Forest Service. "They will not be jailed. They will not be fined," Rollins said, adding that the administration is "ending regulation by prosecution in America" and will investigate how the case occurred.

The announcement matters because it resolves the immediate criminal threat to the family and signals an administrative response for other landowners who say they were unfairly prosecuted. Charles and Heather Maud run roughly 400 acres, raise about 250 head of cattle and approximately 40 sows, and said a long‑standing, informal grazing arrangement with the Forest Service existed while a formal boundary survey was expected but never completed.

Rollins said USDA has launched…