Imagine ranching the same land for decades… maintaining the same stock-water ponds your parents and grandparents maintained… raising cattle, improving the range, paying your leases - and then one day the State shows up and declares you a criminal. That is exactly what is happening to the King Ranch in Grant County, Washington. The Washington Department of Ecology and the Department of Natural Resources have slapped the Kings with a $267,540 fine, canceled their grazing leases, attempted to seize their improvements, and even referred them for a criminal investigation - the same type of investigation normally reserved for organized crime. Their crime? Maintaining stock-water ponds the State now magically calls “alkali wetlands”. The Kings have used these ponds for 68 years; ponds the government has known about for generations. This is government overreach at its worst, and the King family is fighting back. This case isn’t just a local dispute. It is the blueprint for how ranching dies if we don’t fight back. Support the Kings. Share their story. This is your land, your water and your fight.
