RULING OPENS LITIGATION FLOODGATES WHILE VOIDING RIGHTS

Jack McFarland owns property, which he bought from his grandmother, in Glacier National Park. Like his grandmother and the man from whom she bought it, who staked his homestead prior to Glacier National Park’s creation and received his patent from President Wilson, Jack McFarland accesses his property in the only way possible: via Glacier Route 7. Jack McFarland’s property is just three miles north of the Polebridge Ranger Station...
Since 1910, the NPS acknowledged consistently that it could not deny people like Jack McFarland access to their property, putting it in writing as recently as 1985. That written statement came less than ten years after, in the court’s view, Jack McFarland should have known that the NPS claimed just the opposite. Plus, when Jack McFarland requested a special use permit, he was not claiming a property right but seeking a license, which the NPS could revoke unilaterally. Under the APA, he has a right, as do all citizens, to have that request decided in a manner that is neither “arbitrary nor capricious.” Thus, the court has deprived all who have property disputes with the government of their right, as granted by Congress in the APA, to fair and equitable treatment.
Finally, the court has opened the litigation floodgates. It has told property owners who access their property via federal lands that, any time the United States restricts the access rights of the general public to use those lands, it has acted in a manner adverse to the property owners and, to protect their rights under the Quiet Title Act, they must file suit.