Vernon

An expected decision in the decade-old Browns Creek Watershed conflict was delayed Friday after the presiding judge for the B.C. Supreme court asked for more information to help her clarify issues.

Arguments before Madame Judge Brown at the Vancouver courthouse were heard for three days this week. At the heart of the issue is a proposed logging plan for the watershed by Tolko Industries Ltd., which the Okanagan Nation Alliance says is an environmentally sensitive area and shouldn't be logged.

Things came to a head this fall when the ONA set up a barricade to keep Tolko from logging in the area. In response to Tolko’s plans to initiate industrial logging operations in the Browns Creek Watershed on October 21, 2009, the ONA set up camps at Bouleau Lake.

Tolko attempted to bring heavy equipment in the area to commence its industrial logging operations and were met by Okanagan Nation members requesting that Tolko respect the Okanagan Nation’s connection to the land.

Injunctions were served on both sides to prevent the other party from their activities near Browns Creek.

Browns Creek is near Vernon. Both parties go back for another hearing on December 18 to present further submissions to the court.

Chief Fabian Alexis of the Okanagan Indian Band states in a press release that he remains "positive that the B.C. Supreme Court will acknowledge the validity of the concerns we have raised in our injunction application to prevent Tolko's plans to cause irreparable harm within an environmentally-fragile watershed."

A spokesperson for Tolko Industries Ltd. was not immediately available for comment.

Link: Logging dispute decision next week