FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
North Okanagan farmers file lawsuits against BC Timber Sales, seeking to halt logging and protect water supply
Upper Chum Water Users Association and farmers file judicial review petition and civil claims in BC Supreme Court, demanding halt to planned auction of 4 cut blocks in Skimikin / Ptarmigan Hills
January 7, 2025
CHASE, BC, Secwépemc Territory – Farmers in the North Okanagan’s Turtle Valley near Chase have filed a judicial review petition and notices of civil claim in BC Supreme Court, seeking to halt the planned BC Timber Sales (BCTS) auction of 4 cut blocks in the Skimikin / Ptarmigan Hills and protect their drinking water supply.
“We are calling on the Province of BC to halt the planned timber sale,” says Ben Isitt, lawyer for the Upper Chum Creek Water Users Association and impacted farmers Christine Adderson, Scott Adderson, Hillary McNolty and John McNolty. “BC Timber Sales is recklessly proposing large-scale clearcut logging 450 metres uphill from the Adderson and McNolty farms and drinking-water sources. The Minister of Forests and the court need to step in, do the right thing, and protect these licensed water sources.”
BCTS advertised the 4 cut blocks for sale on December 20, 2024, in BC Bid opportunity TA2461, consisting of 46 hectares of old-growth and mature Douglas fir and Western red cedar forest and 4.4 kilometres of new logging roads. The closing date for bids is January 15, 2025. The impacted water users took legal action after attempting for more than a year to persuade BCTS to complete a proper hydrologic assessment of the proposed logging. BCTS refused.
“The Upper Chum Creek water users urged BCTS to properly study hydrologic impacts of the logging on their licensed drinking-water sources,” says Isitt. “BCTS unfortunately refused, which left the water users with no choice but to take legal action against the Province, in order to halt the auction and protect their drinking-water sources.”
The water users are taking steps for an expedited hearing of the Judicial Review petition. Additional concerns include impacts on wildlife, heightened wildfire hazards and impacts on cultural use by Secwépemc persons.
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For more information, please contact:
Ben Isitt, lawyer for the Upper Chum Creek Water Users – 250-882-9302 / ben@isitt.ca
Christine Adderson, Turtle Valley resident – 250-679-1112 / turtlecrossing@live.ca