Members of a Nicola Valley fish and game club allege the Douglas Lake Cattle Company neglected to show incoming streams during a special court viewing on the ranch in May.
Supreme Court Justice Joel Groves allowed the Nicola Valley Fish & Game Club to reopen the trial Friday after lawyer Chris Harvey said members discovered two watercourses that flowed into Stoney Lake, one of two lakes at dispute in the trial over public access.
The club is suing the ranch for what it claims is blocked access to a public road and two lakes — Stoney Lake and Minnie Lake — that are fenced and gated. Access is granted only to paying guests of the ranch.
The trial closed after submissions in February. But the court scheduled a special viewing in May, following the snow melt, in order to better understand the complex geography of the surrounding lands.
Harvey successfully argued Friday for the trial to be re-opened and for a witness, club member Ed Hendricks, to be allowed to testify.
Hendricks was among the lawyers, judge, reporters and club members allowed access for the site tour on May 23.
“I recall Mr. Gardner (Douglas Lake ranch manager Joe Gardner) taking us to a dry draw,” Hendricks said of what the ranch said of the trickle that ran into Stoney Lake.
“There wasn’t even enough water to wash the moss off the rocks.”
Hendricks said he and another member, skeptical of the representation, wandered and found another creek.
They were allowed back on the ranch two days later and found the creek did not flow to Stoney Lake. During their second foray, however, Hendricks said they found three other small water bodies at the east end of Stoney Lake that fed the larger lake.
The water flows are important because the ranch claims the lakes were little more than ephemeral ponds, made larger and developed as trophy lakes with private money and effort. The club, however, has asserted they are natural lakes first mapped out in the 19th century.
Lawyers will make final written submissions in the next several weeks. Groves has not said when he will render his decision.
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