Neighbors of indicted South Dakota ranchers speak to decades of bullying from Forest Service

Charles and Heather Maude’s case highlights growing tensions between government agencies and the 2% of Americans still working in production agriculture.

As Charles and Heather Maude prepare to face trial for a fence built before they were born, neighbors in remote Custer County, South Dakota speak to years of hostility with the Forest Service (USFS), a rumored land grab, and federal agents gone rogue.

Scott Edoff operates his family’s ranch near the Maude family ranch. The two families have shared a fenc…