Atop a swelling pile of bureaucratic abuses waged against American property owners, the ordeal of Gray Skipper is standalone. The government used a phantom snake to gain permanent control of 10,000 acres belonging to Skipper.
“I want people to find out how power-hungry FWS is in our case,” he says.
In 2015, Fish & Wildlife Service dropped a critical habitat designation on Skipper’s rural property in the name of a reptile that did not exist on the land. However, in 2025, after FWS action was exposed, a federal judge excoriated FWS behavior, labeling the agency’s actions as “arbitrary and capricious.” Translated: A court tossed FWS off Skipper’s property.
“On our land, my family’s attitude has always been, ‘Do the right thing and everything will be fine.’ Didn’t work with FWS.”
A family betrayed over a ghost.
Facts Be Damned
Conservation is a hefty battering ram in the hands of a bureaucrat.
Since 1902, the Skipper family has owned and managed timberland in southwestern Alabama’s Clarke County. In 1956, they began participating in the state’s Wildlife Management Area (WMA) program, opening acreage for public hunting and wildlife conservation. “All the generations of my family have been proud to be involved in conservation and didn’t ask or expect anything back,” Gray Skipper told Farm Journal in 2023.
Across decades, his family’s pristine timberland played a direct role in boosting whitetail deer populations (and eastern wild turkey) across multiple states beyond Alabama. On paper and in practice, the environmental marriage was a remarkable success.
However, the Skippers’ preservation efforts backfired. By protecting original habitat and welcoming researchers for decades, the pristine ground attracted government attention. As in, no good deed goes unpunished.
In February 2020, FWS designated 300,000-plus acres as critical habitat for the black pinesnake, including over 10,000 acres belonging to Skipper. Despite only a single black pinesnake sighting on the property across almost 25 years (including a comprehensive 2008 state survey that found no pinesnakes, as in zero), FWS declared Skipper’s land as “occupied” by the black pinesnake. (Also, FWS officials were aware they had no authority to reintroduce the snake, i.e., they knew they were creating a paper haven for the reptile.)
Brazenly, FWS based the critical habitat designation on soil type and tree species—not the presence of snakes. Facts be damned: Skipper’s land, considered by the feds as “critical” for the survival of the black pinesnake—had no pinesnakes.
“Office bureaucrats that preach about saving species and taking care of the land are hypocrites because they do nothing but hurt their own cause by breaking trust with private citizens,” Skipper said. “What landowner wants FWS to show up at their gate? Really, who in the hell actually trusts FWS anymore?”
(FWS declined Agweb.com interview requests regarding the Skipper litigation.)
With the stroke of a pen, Skipper’s land and business fell under the regulatory weight of a federal decree that permanently altered the value of his acres and silviculture operation. FWS insisted economic loss to Skipper would be minimal—a remarkable contention considering development restrictions, permit requirements on activity from herbicide applications to roadbuilding, potential civil and criminal liability during timber harvest, and value perception in the public eye.
FWS assured Skipper that restrictions would be inconsequential. “I can read the critical habitat rules for myself,” Skipper emphasized, “and it is chockful of restrictions. We’re at a point in this country where bureaucrats can lie to the public and nobody can do a thing about it. Here’s a restriction: If I alter the habitat or kill a pinesnake, I’m subject to a $50,000 fine and up to one year in prison. Does that sound kinda restrictive?”
Swinging Gate
In 2022, represented pro bono by Pacific Legal Foundation, Skipper took FWS to court (Skipper v. FWS). In August 2025, at the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Alabama, Chief Judge Jeffrey Beaverstock ruled in Skipper’s favor, and labeled FWS’ critical habitat designation and its economic impact analysis as “arbitrary and capricious.”
Further, Beaverstock blistered FWS’ reasoning and behavior as: unsupported by competent evidence, hollow exercise, without a full and fair consideration, abuse of discretion, and not the product of reasoned judgment.
“We see a lot of surprising cases of government overreach in our line of work,” says PLF attorney Jeffrey McCoy, “but this one was far beyond reason. There was an arrogance by FWS, telling the Skippers: ‘Don’t worry, this habitat designation will never cause you any problems, and we’re going to force you either way.’ It was an extreme position even compared to other cases, and I think that’s reflected in how thoroughly the judge rebuked the agency.”
“FWS and other agencies know that no matter how extreme their regulations are, most landowners cannot fight back long-term,” McCoy continues. “The agencies have nearly unlimited resources and they use your own tax dollars to tie you up in court. Things change when you have landowners, like the Skippers, willing to stand up, and an organization, like PLF, to take it into a courtroom.”
As a co-plaintiff alongside Skipper, Scott Jones, CEO of the Forest Landowners Association, a nonprofit representing approximately 5,000 family forest landowners and 50 million acres of woodland in 45 states, summed the case: “The Skippers opened their gate to preservation, conservation, and public hunting, and the gate swung back and hit the family … Regulation without reason, good science, and recognition of property rights is a danger, and people need to recognize that what has happened to the Skippers can happen to any landowner.”
And all for the survival of a snake not even found on the land in question.
For more from Chris Bennett (@ChrisBennettMS or cbennett@farmjournal.com or 662-592-1106), see:
Corn and Cocaine: Roger Reaves and the Most Incredible Farm Story Never Told
How the Deep State Tried, and Failed, to Crush an American Farmer
Game of Horns: Iowa Poacher’s Antler Addiction Leads to Historic Bust
Ghost Cattle: $650M Ponzi Rocks Livestock Industry, Money Still Missing
