A new state forester was appointed Tuesday to lead the Oregon Department of Forestry as it confronts hot conflicts between logging and endangered fish and wildlife as well searching for money to fight wildfires in a tight budget.

Breaking with tradition, the Board of Forestry went outside the Oregon Department of Forestry to tap Marvin Brown, the director of private forest land management with the American Forest & Paper Association, a timber industry group in Washington, D.C. Brown was Missouri state forester from 1992 to 1999.

The appointment came after an all-day meeting in Salem.

"Marvin brings a commitment to sustainable forestry, consistent with the vision provided by (former) state forester Jim Brown," said Howard Sohn, the chairman of the Board of Forestry and chairman of Lone Rock Timber Co. in Roseburg. "He has broad experience in land conservation and land management in both public and private spheres."

Many people have been urging the Department of Forestry to play a stronger role in federal forest and endangered species policies, and Brown's strong background in those areas would serve the department well, Sohn added.

Brown declined to be interviewed. His starting date and salary were not immediately announced.

Other candidates for the job were Acting State Forester Roy Woo and assistant state foresters Charley Stone and Clark Seely.

Jim Brown, who was state forester for 17 years before leaving to become natural resources adviser to Gov. Ted Kulongoski, said the biggest challenge his replacement will face is defining the state's role in administering the federal Endangered Species Act.

The new state forester will take over as lead defendant in a federal lawsuit brought by environmentalists seeking a ban on clearcuts on private timberlands with steep slopes near streams bearing threatened coho salmon.

"When Jim Brown got it 17 years ago, he had a little time to get comfortable in the job," said Ray Wilkeson, legislative director for the Oregon Forest Industries Council, which represents private timberland owners regulated by the department. "Whatever that cliche is about hitting the ground running I guess applies here."

Brown moved the department from a single focus on timber to recognizing the need to manage for fish and wildlife, and conservationists will be looking forward to a new state forester who will listen to their concerns, said Sybil Ackerman, conservation director for the Audubon Society of Portland.

"I see an agency struggling to try to become more thoughtful in the ecosystem process," Ackerman said. "But they are still rooted in the belief that logging can help everything.

"There is tension."

Conflict is growing over state management of the Tillamook and Clatsop state forests, the legacy of a popular reforestation effort after huge fires in the 1930s in the northwestern corner of the state.

Conservationists have introduced a bill in the Legislature to make half the forests a reserve for fish and wildlife, and are likely to introduce a ballot measure if the bill fails.

Local governments and timber interests want the departments to ease restrictions on timber harvest that protect spotted owls and salmon to produce more logs for local mills.

"Everybody's mad," Wilkeson said. "It's more likely to get worse than better."

Meanwhile, the department is entering the start of fire season facing budget cuts and uncertainty over future funding at a time the state is struggling to pay for schools, police and prisons.

Private timberland owners also hope the new state forester will press the federal government to do more to thin national forests to reduce the danger of wildfires slopping over onto private lands, as they did last summer, Wilkeson said.

"It's a good agency," Wilkeson said. "It's not like taking on a sinking ship."

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Eds: Jeff Barnard has been covering environmental issues since 1983.