The Flathead Conservation District and Friends of Montana Rivers and Streams have filed an appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals regarding a home built on private land along the banks of McDonald Creek in Glacier National Park. U.S. Magistrate Kathleen DeSoto previously ruled in favor of homeowners John and Stacy Ambler, stating that the Conservation District lacked authority to enforce state law within the park. The Ambler home is considered an inholding, part of a subdivision that pre-dated the creation of Glacier in 1910.

The Park Service allowed the Ambler home to be built and connected to Park Service sewer and water, despite the Conservation District finding it in violation of the Montana Streambed Protection Act. The Act requires review of any project that could disturb the banks of a stream in the state, but the Amblers never applied for a permit. The state ceded most authority over private lands in Glacier to the federal government, leaving the state without jurisdiction to enforce state environmental laws within the park.

The appeal process is ongoing, with opening briefs due by May 28 and responses by June 27. If the appeals court rules that federal law applies, the matter could potentially be sent back to the Park Service for a full environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act. The Ambler home remains uncompleted as the legal battle continues.