Despite a court ruling in Koochiching District Court last week allowing Minnesota loggers to continue working on open permits on state forests, another judge will decide whether the logging operations should be stopped during the government shutdown.

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.

Birchdale loggers Kit Hasbargen, Keith Hasbargen and Dale Erickson sought the temporary restraining order against the state, arguing that keeping them from conducting timber harvests on state lands would be a violation of the contracts they have with the state.

But 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.

On Tuesday, the Minnesota Supreme Court agreed. A court hearing on whether to put in place a permanent injunction allowing in-progress harvest is scheduled for Monday in Ramsey County Court, but the date could be changed.

Steve Shermoen, attorney for the loggers, Wednesday said the TRO remains in place until the court changes the ruling.

The timber companies argue 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.

Wayne Brandt, executive vice president of the Minnesota Timber Producers Association, said the logging case is fundamentally different than other cases the Ramsey County judge will hear. The three loggers are members of the association.

“This case is about valid contracts and those other cases are trying to compel the state to spend money or to put state employees back on payroll. Ours is about letting us work,” he said Wednesday afternoon.

Brandt said the TRO remains in effect until after the hearing on the injunction.

“We hope the temporary restraining order is turned into a permanent injunction and our loggers with open timber sales can continue to work,” Brandt said.

Attorneys Tom Overton and Kimberly Middendorf of the Minnesota Attorney General’s office represented the state at the hearing in International Falls last week via telephone.

During that hearing, the AG’s attorneys argued that the shutdown will not allow the DNR to monitor the harvests to ensure that rules and regulations are followed.

In addition, they said the effect of the shutdown would not cause irreparable damage to the loggers, and urged the judge to refer the matter to Ramsey County District Court where similar court actions involving the shutdown will be handled.

Prior to the shutdown, Minnesota DNR Commissioner Tom Landwehr issued an order suspending harvesting operations in state forests in the event of a state government shutdown.

The request to reassign the case to Ramsey County Chief Judge Kathleen Gearin was sought by Gov. Mark Dayton and Landwehr.