The sawmill operator who had logs seized from his property along the Atlin Road a year ago has reached a settlement with the Yukon government.

Jeffrey Gilbert agreed in territorial court last Friday to split the money raised from the court-approved sale of the wood, with each party accepting $2,500.

Gilbert has been harshly critical of the Yukon government and the RCMP for effecting the seizure while he was out of the country.

It's been Gilbert's position that there was nothing illegal about his possession of the wood harvested by a member of the Carcross-Tagish First Nation on the first nation's traditional territory.

He and his sometimes partner have also criticized the government for unnecessarily spending tens of thousands of dollars to transport the wood to Whitehorse when it had already been secured in his yard under official seizure notices.

The $2,500 he will be paid will go directly to cover his legal expenses, Gilbert said in interview after the court proceedings.

The court ordered the wood to be sold last fall to salvage any value it had rather than let it rot inside the compound.

Whitehorse lawyer Keith Parkkari, who represented Gilbert, emphasized to the court that the settlement was only for the wood that was transported to Whitehorse. It did not address any issues that may surround wood that did not make it to the compound, Parkkari told Judge Karen Ruddy.

While Gilbert wasn't sure if he was going to pursue any further legal action, his partner and fellow sawyer, Jean-Francois Nantel, told the judge he would be pursuing further action in the Yukon Supreme Court.

Nantel and Gilbert maintain there was a substantial amount of wood that was in Gilbert's yard before the seizure but not afterward. Nor was it amongst the wood stored at the government compound, they insist.

Nantel filed a small claims suit against the RCMP last year, arguing the search warrants issued were only for white spruce, but that a pile of his pine logs stored in Gilbert's yard also went missing. The federal government has argued that the small claims court does not have jurisdiction over matters involving the federal RCMP branch, and that any legal challenge against the police must be heard in either the Yukon Supreme Court or the Federal Court of Canada.

The RCMP maintain there was no seizure of any pine logs.

Nantel told the judge Friday he will taking his suspicions to the Yukon Supreme Court.

It's a moral issue for Nantel, he said in an interview outside the courtroom.

'Our wood was just taken away from us,' he said. 'It's not morally right to accept things like that.'

Gilbert likened his settlement to having joint-custody of the wood with the Yukon government.

He said the Yukon government once indicated to him that it had lots of money to put guys like him in his place.

'That is part of what has happened here today,' Gilbert said, noting that he is not sure if he'll continue further legal action, given what could be an enormous cost.

Yukon government lawyer Teri Cherkewich declined to discuss why the Yukon government chose to settle with Gilbert rather than pursue prosecution.

It was suggested by Gilbert, however, that the Yukon government did not want to challenge the aboriginal right to harvest wood on traditional territory.

Some estimate it cost the Yukon government and the RCMP well in excess of $30,000 to move the seized wood from the Lubbock Valley into Whitehorse. Both the Yukon government and the RCMP have declined to disclose the figure, suggesting the cost of investigation is part of their everyday responsibility.