A settlement was reached Friday between the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and loggers who sued the state in an effort to keep hauling and logging wood from state forests during the state government shutdown.
Despite a tentative agreement reached last week, legislators have not yet voted on the budget deal that would end the shutdown and state services have not been resumed and employees have not returned to work as of Tuesday.
Steve Shermoen, attorney representing Birchdale loggers Kit Hasbargen, Keith Hasbargen and Dale Erickson, said a hearing scheduled for Monday in Ramsey County District Court seeking an injunction did not occur.
Instead, he said DNR Commissioner Tom Landwehr agreed Friday to issue a new order that allows loggers to haul wood from state forests until Sept. 1. The previous order called for hauling wood to end July 14.
However, the loggers may not continue to cut wood on state forests during the shutdown.
Shermoen said because of the new order, the loggers agreed to dismiss the lawsuit and Ramsey County Chief Judge Kathleen Gearin agreed to sign the order.
“It’s what we were looking for except they can’t keep cutting on open contracts,” said Shermoen Tuesday. “It was a compromise. We felt our chances of success at the hearing in front of Gearin did not appear good. It was an acceptable resolution under the circumstances.”
During earlier hearings, Gearin encouraged the loggers to voice their concerns to legislators and the governor.
Early July 1, just after Minnesota’s government shutdown because of an impasse among lawmakers to finalize a budget, Koochiching County District Judge Chad LeDuc granted a temporary restraining order against the state, allowing loggers to continue harvesting timber.
The timber companies argued that they’ve already paid the fees to harvest the timber and that allowing the harvest does not involve the expenditure of any state funds and therefore should be allowed to continue during the shutdown.
Despite that ruling, the Department of Natural Resources asked for the case to be reassigned to the same Ramsey County judge who ruled which agencies would stay open and which ones would close during the shutdown. The Minnesota Supreme Court agreed and Gearin on July 15 vacated the TROs and scheduled Monday’s hearing on a temporary injunction, unless the shutdown was resolved or the lawsuit settled.
