The dispute turned on whether state law regulates construction along streambanks on privately owned land within the park's boundaries. The district court concluded the Flathead Conservation District lacked authority to enforce the Streambed Act against the Amblers, and the appeals court agreed.
Montana ceded jurisdiction to the United States in 1911 over private inholdings within Glacier National Park, and the federal government accepted the cession in 1914. The state reserved only the powers to serve process and to tax within the ceded territory.
State law in effect at the time of cession is assimilated into federal law. Civil statutes enacted afterward are not assimilated unless they are part of the "same basic scheme" that has been in effect since the cession.
The Ninth Circuit concluded the Streambed Act does not meet that test. The laws on the books at the time of cession regulated the dumping of sawmill debris and permitted landowners to build docks and wharves along navigable waters so long as they did not impede navigation. The 1975 statute, which provides a system for approving construction along streambanks, operates differently.
The panel also rejected the argument that the Streambed Act should be treated as criminal law because it contains a criminal enforcement component. The court said "a law is not criminal simply because it is enforceable by criminal as well as civil means." The shorthand test, the opinion explained, is "whether the conduct at issue violates the state's public policy."
The Streambed Act supplies a path to seek approval for construction projects near streams, which the court said indicated an intent to regulate rather than prohibit such work. On that basis, the Act was not assimilated into federal law when it was enacted in 1975.
Friends of Montana Streams and Rivers argued that public policy and federalism concerns supported reading the cession statutes to give Montana authority over private property within the park. The Ninth Circuit held those considerations do not support the application of state law where the federal government has exclusive legislative jurisdiction.
Because Montana lacks concurrent legislative jurisdiction over the inholdings, the court said there is no basis to apply the Streambed Act to the Amblers' property. The panel affirmed the district court's grant of declaratory relief.