Two Montana court rulings landed hard thumps on Eagle Bear Inc., a KOA campground operator in St. Mary, Montana. William and Susan Brooke have operated the KOA on land near Glacier National Park owned by the Blackfeet Nation since 1997. Now rulings by two courts say the Montana KOA owes the Blackfeet Nation $1.7 million in back taxes. Another ruling says that the KOA has been illegally squatting on tribal land for nearly 15 years.
Montana KOA lease overseen by federal government
The KOA owners established a lease in 1997 for the 56-acre site. They opened their operation as the St. Mary East Glacier KOA. The lease was established through and overseen by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). Under terms of the lease, not only would the KOA pay lease payments, it also agreed to pay lodging taxes to the Blackfeet Tribe. The payments were never made directly from the KOA owners to the Nation, rather, the BIA acted as an intermediary.
The Brookes put a lot of effort into the development of the campground. Among other features, the KOA had arrangements for tent camping and cabins. A grocery store, gift shop, as well as kayak, bike and auto rentals, all were part of the campground’s profitable operation. According to court filings, this year alone the company took in $3.2 million. No doubt the location, right on the edge of Glacier National Park made for plenty of business.
BIA “terminates” KOA lease—never tells tribe
The trouble was, the KOA owners weren’t always as good at putting out the money as they were at taking it in. In 2007, Eagle Bear didn’t pay the rent. The BIA fired off notices to the KOA, asking for payment. Some 193 days rolled by with no response, and the BIA canceled the KOA’s lease on the Blackfeet Nation land. But the BIA didn’t notify the Nation of this move. Nor did the BIA evict the campground owners—and they continued in a “business as usual” fashion.
Some ten years later, in 2017 the Blackfeet Nation formally asked the BIA to “terminate” the KOA lease. The tribe recognized that they weren’t receiving their lease payments nor the “lodging taxes” due. Apparently the BIA had never bothered to notify the tribe that the lease was already terminated. When the BIA didn’t act, five years later the tribe blocked the entrance to the KOA for the 2022 camping season.
Court says KOA owes nearly $2M
Now the Federal Bankruptcy Court has ruled that the Blackfeet Nation is due $1,740,910.81 in back lodging taxes. It further found that this wad of money is not dischargeable under bankruptcy law, and that the company must pay up. The KOA owners filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition last year. They sought reorganization of debt while continuing to operate.
Just who is the bad guy in this case? Chief U.S. District Judge Brian Morris points the finger at the federal government. “The Court takes note of one common and resounding feature of this case—the incompetence of the BIA as administrator to this lease,” Morris wrote. He also noted, “neither Eagle Bear nor the Blackfeet Nation will be pleased entirely by the outcome of this case.” The KOA owners had made investments in the campground, while the Blackfeet had lost years of use of its own land.
The Blackfeet Nation says it will pursue collection of the judgement. KOA managers have declined comment.
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KOA…greed above everything else!
Appears to be a major failure of BIA’s accounting on lease payments and follow through with payment demands.
Should have let the IRS run the collection efforts.
Also a failure of the Blackfeet Nation that it took so many years to recognize this income stream was not happening. I am not saying they should not be paid, just that there was incompetence in both the BIA and Blackfeet Nation.
The KOA owners were apparently crooks and cheaters. Krooks of America. 🙂
KOA charges the highest rates I’ve ever seen for “camping.” Granted, they usually have plenty of offerings for those willing to pony up the big $$$. The St. Mary’s KOA is beautiful, tho
Oops. I forgot to pay my rent. I say let the Blackfeet Nation take back the property with all improvements. I can’t believe the Brookes were not aware of what was happening, or not happening, with their payments to the BIA. Too bad, KOA. You should lose on this one.
I couldn’t agree with you more. As adults, and business owners, you know your responsibilities and should pay your bills. If you don’t, you lose your property, that simple. It’s call “cause and effect”.
Why doesn’t the court come up with an arrangement that doesn’t put the campground out of business? If the campground goes out of business and into bankruptcy, then no one wins. Why is it that the courts these days do everything they can to destroy businesses and lives?
They filed for reorganization, not liquidation. Therefore they are not going out of business.
Q: Why did this business do everything it could to not pay its obligations?
A: Because grifters have become the new American heroes to a large segment of American society.
Why didn’t the KOA pay its taxes like they were supposed to? While excessive taxation is theft, SOME taxes ARE necessary to run the government, they just need to cut out the “pork”. Some of those taxes help pay the employees of the Bureaus of Land Management and Indian Affairs.
If I was running the Blackfeet Nation, the squatter KOA owners would be evicted, their assets seized, and I would have the campground run by the Nation. Think about it…$1.7M over 15 years…$113,333 avg annual income vs having the entire profit on over $3M of annual revenue. At a minimum, there would be bids put out for a new operator for having the opportunity to operate with a profit sharing arrangement.
Let’s hear from the BIA person responsible for oversight of this mess.
They got promoted. 😉
And yet another piece that has virtually nothing to do with this site and it’s purpose and everything to do with a politics. Shame on me for reading anything from T&R.
Larry, we’re talking about a campground here, and that’s where many RV’ers go – to campgrounds. It IS relevant.
You are delusional.
How does this not have to do with the scope of coverage for the website? This article directly involves a RV KOA campground and probably will affect a number of rv travelers…obviously not you. Simply move onto the next article or to another website that better fits your interests
Thank you, Russ and Tina! What a remarkable chain of events!?!?! I hope that you will be able to follow future developments in this story. Merry Christmas!
Yes I agree. Would love to see the follow up reports on this.
This is the KOA that charges $120 a night.
Nope. $140/night + taxes (that apparently are not going to right place).
It is one thing if they “overlooked” paying the taxes, but there is absolutely no rational reason for not making the lease payments, save simple greed.😡
It’s interesting to note that this KOA is still taking reservations for the 2024 travel season. Not quite sure I understand how this campground is still open and operating as a KOA.