Federal judge to hear arguments next week in Glacier National Park house case

Oral arguments in a case on whether the Flathead Conservation District has the authority to order a home removed from the banks of McDonald Creek in Glacier National Park are scheduled for Jan. 8 in federal court in Missoula.

In late 2022 and early 2023 John and Stacy Ambler of San Diego, California built a home on the banks of the idyllic creek on a 2,300 square-foot privately-owned lot. In order to do so, they also poured a concrete retaining wall into the streambank as well as placed rock footers into the bank for decks.

Concerned residents, seeing the home being built, filed complaints against the Amblers with the Flathead Conservation District. The district oversees and enforces the Montana Natural Streambed and Land Preservation Act. It undertook an investigation and found that the house violated the state law because the Amblers never sought, nor received the necessary permits to build the home. The district, in turn, ordered the home removed.

After a hearing and other legal wrangling in 2023, the Amblers filed suit against the district in both federal and Flathead County District Court, claiming they did nothing wrong and that the district has no jurisdiction in the case, because the home is inside Glacier National Park. The property is what is known as an inholding — private land that predates the creation of the park in 1910. The Amblers plot was established as part of a subdivision of Apgar, a small and largely privately-held village in Glacier, created in 1908 by Charles Howes.

The conservation district in earlier court filings, claimed the Amblers are trying, in essence, to have it both ways — claiming the state has no jurisdiction because the home is inside the park, and also claiming the federal government has no jurisdiction because it’s private property that’s unzoned in Flathead County.

But the conservation district points to the enabling legislation which created Glacier in 1910.

“Nothing herein contained shall affect any valid claim, location, or entry existing under the land laws of the United States before May 11, 1910, or the rights of any such claimant, locator, or entryman to the full use and enjoyment of his land,” the legislation that created the park states.

In other words, private land remains private land, regardless if it’s in Glacier National Park boundaries. But it also is subject to state and local laws, the district maintains.

But the Amblers tell a different story.

They claim they were given the OK to build the house in Apgar on May 13, 2019 when Flathead County planning office told them in writing they could do “whatever they want with the land without restriction,” as the land is unzoned.

That is true, but it doesn’t preclude the state Streambed Law, the district maintains.

Trent Baker, the Amblers’ attorney, in previously citing Montana law, claims the state ceded exclusive jurisdiction over all land within Glacier National Park to the United States.

“Courts hold that if a state cedes jurisdiction for a national park without retaining jurisdiction over private inholdings, then general legislative jurisdiction for all land, public and private, within the boundary of the park is ceded to the United States,” Baker opined in court filings.

The Park Service, at least publicly, has stayed out of the matter. It did allow the Amblers to hook up to the sewer and water system it administers in Apgar and Superintendent David Roemer has previously told the Hungry Horse News that the park’s jurisdiction begins at the high water mark, which is a few feet below the home.

Ultimately, the matter of who has jurisdiction will be decided by U.S. Magistrate Judge Kathleen DeSoto. After oral arguments, it typically takes several weeks for a judge to issue a ruling in a case.

Meanwhile, the house sits empty and unfinished, a bit of an eyesore along the creek. According to residents, a house once sat on the lot, but the Flood of 1964 washed away the bank and the home was demolished, as it sat precariously on the undercut bank after the flood.

The Amblers, in turn, built their home on what was left of the lot.

The conservation district is represented by Whitefish attorney Camisha Sawtelle.