A private home on the banks of McDonald Creek in Glacier National Park can remain, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

In a 42-page ruling, U.S. Magistrate Kathleen DeSoto ruled in favor of John and Stacy Ambler of San Diego, California who built a house on a slice of land on lower McDonald Creek in Apgar. 

Once the home was largely built, the Flathead Conservation District, responding to a host of private complaints about the structure, found the home was in violation of the Montana Streambed Protection Act and ordered it removed. 

But DeSoto said the Conservation District lacked authority to enforce state law inside of Glacier National Park. 

The Park Service, it should be noted, allowed the Ambler home to be built, and even allowed it to be hooked into Park Service sewer and water, which serves Apgar Village. 

“In sum, the Court concludes that the Conservation District lacks jurisdiction to enforce the Streambed Act on the Ambler Property because Montana has ceded exclusive jurisdiction over all land within the boundaries of Glacier National Park—including private inholdings—to the federal government,” DeSoto ruled. “In reaching this conclusion, the Court is bound by (a previous Ninth Circuit Court decision) which held that Montana’s cession of jurisdiction over Glacier National Park 'included not only the public lands dedicated to park purposes by the United States but all privately owned lands within the described park boundaries,” and that '[b]y this cession and acceptance, federal authority became the only authority operating within the ceded areas.'” 

The Amblers argued the Conservation lacks jurisdiction to enforce the Streambed Act on the Ambler property because the State of Montana statutorily ceded exclusive jurisdiction over all land within Glacier National Park—including private inholdings — to the United States subject to certain reservations, such as the ability to tax private land in the park. Those reservations did not apply to this case, DeSoto found. 

The Conservation District countered that when Congress created Glacier National Park in 1910, it specifically excluded property held in private ownership. The district contended that because private inholdings were not included within Glacier National Park, the State of Montana did not cede exclusive jurisdiction over private inholdings to the United States and the Conservation District therefore had jurisdiction to enforce state law, including the Streambed Act, on the Ambler Property. 

But the court disagreed, noting the federal government, when it takes over a property from state ownership, only adopts the state law that was current when the cessation took place. 

“As a general rule “only the law in effect at the time of the transfer of jurisdiction continues in force, future statutes of the state are not a part of the body of laws in the ceded area. Congressional action is necessary to keep it current,” DeSoto found. 

The Montana Streambed law was passed in 1976, long after Glacier Park was established in 1910 and the state accepted the cassation in 1914. 

DeSoto also cites another case in Glacier National Park, Macomber v. Bose. That was a dispute over water rights in the Park, but the same legal theory applied. That case went to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, but it also found that the state law did not apply. 

“By this cession and acceptance, federal authority became the only authority operating within the ceded area. State law theretofore applicable within the area was assimilated as federal law, to remain in effect until changed by Congress. Rights arising under such assimilated law, arise under federal law and are properly the subject of federal jurisdiction,” the Ninth Circuit found. 

Furthermore, the court noted that the state could have reserved the right to enforce environmental laws when Glacier National Park was created but it did not. It did, however, reserve the right to tax private lands inside the Park’s boundaries. 

“Montana did not, at the time of the cession, reserve any concurrent jurisdiction to enforce state environmental statutes and regulations. Under the terms of the cession and acceptance, FCD does not have legislative jurisdiction to enforce the Streambed Act on the Ambler Property,” DeSoto found. 

The Conservation District and Friends of Montana’s Streams and Rivers, who were intervenors in the case, also claimed the Ambler’s home violates the National Environmental Policy Act, which states, violates a federal statute providing that “no permit, license, lease or other authorization” for the erection and maintenance of summer homes or cottages within Glacier National Park shall be granted. 

But DeSoto found that claim went beyond the scope of this case.