Glacier Park
Ninth Circuit Upholds Homeowners’ Right to Build in Glacier National Park

In affirming a lower court's order, the appellate judges ruled that state law does not apply to a California couple who built a home without a permit on the banks of McDonald Creek

By Tristan Scott
April 28, 2026


A home under construction on private acreage along McDonald Creek near Apgar Village inside Glacier National Park on Oct. 24, 2025. The home is the subject of an ongoing legal battle. Hunter D’Antuono | Flathead Beacon

A California couple who built a home without a permit on the bank of McDonald Creek in Glacier National Park did so legally, a panel of federal appellate judges affirmed last week, while a local conservation district that ordered the home’s demolition has no jurisdictional authority to enforce state environmental protection laws.

The April 17 disposition by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit delivered another legal victory to John and Stacy Ambler, the plaintiffs in a case that commanded widespread attention as it unfolded against the backdrop of a partially built three-story home in full view of millions of visitors to Apgar Village, one of Glacier’s most popular areas. It also generated a groundswell of local interest — and outrage — from observers who viewed the case as pitting the hallowed principle of property rights against an aversion to out-of-state entitlement.

None of that emotion crept into the years of legal proceedings, however, as a federal magistrate judge in Missoula determined — and the panel of three Ninth Circuit judges affirmed — that in 1911, Montana ceded, and the United States accepted, exclusive jurisdiction over privately owned land located within the boundaries of Glacier National Park. ... “Accordingly, federal authority became the only authority operating within the ceded area, including ‘privately owned lands within the described park boundaries,'” the jurists wrote in their memorandum, citing prior case law. “The United States has exclusive legislative jurisdiction over private inholdings within Glacier National Park, except to the extent that Montana reserved powers at the time of cession.”

But that’s not to say that jurisdictional authority was ever clearly defined in a case that began more than three years ago when officials with the Flathead Conservation District, responding to complaints from West Glacier residents, conducted an onsite inspection of the property.


A home under construction on private acreage along McDonald Creek near Apgar Village inside Glacier National Park. Courtesy Flathead Conservation District

{snip}


A home under construction on private acreage along McDonald Creek near Apgar Village inside Glacier National Park on Oct. 24, 2025. Hunter D’Antuono | Flathead Beacon

{snip}

AMBLER DISPOSITION Download

tscott@flatheadbeacon.com