Wy es Dick & Sue Chambers Box 623 Invermere, Buc. VOA 1k0 JANUARY Government Postpones Hearing VICTORIA - A public hearing on a tree farm licence ap- plication for six million hectares in the province’s north- ern interior has been postponed to spring, Forests Minister Dave Parker has announced. The hearing was scheduled for Wednesday, Novem- ber 23, at Mackenzie, 160 kilometres north of Prince George. “Government agencies need more time to review the area’s other resource values, such as recreation, fish, wildlife, and water,” Parker said. “We will release a summary of these resource values before the new hearing date which will be set in the spring,” the minister said. Finlay Forest Industries Ltd. and- Fletcher Chal- lenge Canada Ltd. have submitted a joint application for the tree farm licence. Both now hold forest licences in the area. Parker said a new application review process is tak- ing longer than originally anticipated. “Our new proced- ures call for a more thorough review. They require the B.C. Forest Service to provide factual information on all resource values so that the public can comment more effectively on the application,” Parker said. “We are using these new procedures for the first time in the Mackenzie tree farm licence application. It is now clear that we will need more time for this process for all future applications,” he said. ne The minister noted there is some misunderstanding about the implications of a new tree farm licence. — “The area remains Crown land. The public has full access to the. area for recreation, with some limitations, such as radio-controlled roads or high fire danger restric- tions. “The government monitors and controls all re- source activity within the area, as these lands continue to be available and managed for fish, wildlife, water, recrea- tion and mineral resources. “In brief, a tree farm licence simply grants the licencee rights to trees, not rights to the land.” the Voice of Cassiar Country 1989 15° ERICKSON CUSAC SETTLEMENT Mr. Guilford Brett announced recently that Cusac Industries were successful in their recent action against Erickson Gold, Mr. Justice Gibbs of the Supreme Court of British Columbia awarded judgment in favour of Cusac in the amount of $2.6 million. / The action came about as a result of a contrac- tual dispute with Total Erickson over the proceeds from the gold produced from the first 12,000 tons of produc- tion from the Table Mountain gold mine. Justice Gibbs tuled that the ore produced did belong to Cusac. A spokesperson from Erickson’s Vancouver office indicated that an appeal has been filed and that further comment would be unadvisable at the present time. He indicated that the action will in no way hamper the over- all working agreement between Erickson and. Cusac.