Timber harvesting in the U.S. Forest Service's Northern Region continues to be tangled by litigation, but the agency recently has been prevailing in important cases, the regional forest and rangeland manager said Friday in Kalispell.

Bruce Fox was one of several speakers addressing the annual meeting of the Montana Wood Products Association at the Hilton Garden Inn.

Fox said there has been a fairly consistent timber sales program over the last few years: 270 million board feet in 2005, 202 million in 2006, 192 million in 2007 and 230 million this year.

But court challenges have had widely varying impacts on the region's timber program during the same period. Litigation tied up 30 million board feet in 2005, 121 million in 2006, 58 million in 2007 and 20 million this year.

The Forest Service, however, has been making gains in the courtroom.

"We've been winning cases," Fox said, citing the landmark Mission Brush case decided by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals early this year as the most important.

The case defined and affirmed Forest Service obligations and authorities, while limiting the power of the judiciary in deciding cases, Fox said.

Significantly, the court ruled that judges should not act as a panel of scientists, and the court reversed itself on a previous position that the Forest Service must provide "on-the-ground" validation of expectations in forest management projects.

The court acknowledged that the Forest Service must balance competing interests and that the agency has the authority to determine methodologies and choose the studies it deems appropriate for forest management projects.

It also found that that the Forest Service does not have to address "every uncertainty" associated with a project.

"I think this is huge news," Fox said of the ruling, predicting that it could help deter litigation on future timber sales and other projects.

He said the agency's regional timber program has and will continue to face other challenges, including adequate funding. In 2009, for example, he said the region needs to acquire an additional $3.3 million just to have this year's program funding for the harvest of 276 million board feet regionwide.

The Forest Service also faces challenges in maintaining a trained work force that can plan and process forest management projects.

"Baby boomers are retiring in droves … and it's really a big deal in the federal government right now," he said. "We're not able to hire and train the way we ought to."

As one way to confront that challenge, the region formed a "strike team" of about 40 foresters who can go to ranger districts across the region to assist in planning projects. It turned out that the team has been used not only across the Northern Region, but in other regions as well.

"We're getting them some experience in a big way," Fox said. "And it's working very well."

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com