Wyoming ranchers are asking for President Donald Trump’s help in settling a dispute between the U.S. Forest Service and their daughter and son-in-law on the younger couple’s South Dakota Ranch.
Randi and Tom Hamilton have a ranch in northern Niobrara County, 56 miles from Lusk. Their daughter, Heather Maude, grew up there.
Heather and her husband, Charles Maude, have their own ranch near Caputa, South Dakota.
The Forest Service has accused the Maudes of theft of government property because of a property dispute over a 75-year-old fence line.
Last summer, a Forest Service agent showed up at the Maudes’ home in full tactical gear to serve them indictments.
Under the indictments, the Maudes each face up to 10 years in prison and/or $250,000 fines. A trial is set to begin April 29.
Help Us, Mr. President
The Hamiltons are now making a public appeal for Trump to step in and help their daughter and son-in-law.
“I know Trump and his team have a lot going on,” Randi Hamilton told UNWON, an agricultural news outlet.
“But the government is on steroids to make people’s lives miserable. Socially, financially, emotionally — in every regard. It’s beyond my comprehension that anyone would do this,” she added.
There’s been no word on whether Trump has responded to the Hamiltons’ pleas.
Messages from Cowboy State Daily to the Hamiltons weren’t returned by publication time.
Charles Maude told Cowboy State Daily on Friday that he and his wife can’t comment on the matter, because their case is still pending in court.
Armed Agent On The Front Steps
The Maudes’ case sparked nationwide outrage over what many perceive as a heavy-handed overreaction by the federal government.
At issue is a murky boundary between the Maudes’ land and national grassland controlled by the Forest Service.
Several generations of the Maude family have ranched there since the 1910s, and the family also has leases on the adjoining national grasslands.
The disputed boundary is along a fence line that’s about 75 years old, and at one point the Maudes attached a “no hunting” sign on one of the posts.
After a hunter complained about the sign, the Forest Service told them to remove it, which they did in March 2024.
According to accounts of events, the Maudes met with Forest Service officials and were told that a land survey would settle the matter, and that survey was later conducted.
But according to the Maudes’ accounts, on June 24, 2024, Forest Service Special Agent Travis Lunders showed up unannounced on their front steps, armed in in tactical gear, to serve the indictments.
Contact Mark Heinz at mark@cowboystatedaily.com
