HELENA (AP)- State and federal officials said Friday they will try again to work out a disagreement that has threatened to stall work on a joint plan for managing diseased Yellowstone National Park bison. Representatives from Montana and three federal agencies agreed to a request by U.S. District Judge Charles C. Lovell to have a mediator get involved in a renewed attempt to resolve the dispute.

If the two sides cannot find common ground, the federal government will continue work on its own plan for handling bison inside the park and the state will have to develop a policy for controlling the animals when they cross the Yellowstone boundary. Sherry Scheel Matteucci, U.S. attorney for Montana, was optimistic that some resolution will come in informal talks planned before the April 24 deadline for mediation to start. She will join in those talks personally, she said. "We came into this process with a feeling that further discussions might not be fruitful," she said. "We left with agreement to work it out."

Gov. Marc Racicot was similarly upbeat and said the nudge given by Lovell to engage in mediation was what the state had hoped for in asking him to get involved. "We look forward to the mediation and believe a solution based on the law and sound science can and will be found," he said. Lovell said he will appoint a U.S. magistrate to act as mediator and his order indicated the talks will be done in secret. Friday's hearing was prompted by a December decision by the National Park Service, Forest Service, and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to pull out of a project with the state to write a long-term bison management plan.

The federal agencies said the two governments had reached an impasse over whether bison should be allowed to remain outside the park as they wander in search of winter forage. The state had asked Lovell to prohibit the federal agencies from writing a management plan on their own.

The issue centers on brucellosis which infects a portion of the Yellowstone bison herd. The disease causes cows to abort their calves and can cause undulant fever in humans. The state said permitting brucellosis-infected bison to remain in Montana when they leave the park could prompt other states, concerned about transmission of brucellosis to livestock, to require expensive testing of Montana cattle before export.

The federal government, arguing the proposed plan would keep bison and cattle far apart, promised it would pressure states not to take action against Montana. But the controversy goes beyond concerns about diseases. Shooting was the primary method used to control the migrating bison for several years, a practice that caused a national outcry after 1,100 were killed in the winter of 1996-97. Hazing has been used more in the past two mild winters.

The courts got involved when Montana sued the federal government in 1995 over what Montana officials considered federal apathy about the bison problem. In arguing for Lovell to force the governments to resume working together, John Bloomquist, attorney for the state, said the best way to ensure a free-ranging bison herd and protect the state from the threat of brucellosis is to craft a joint long-term plan.

If the federal government proceeds on its own, Montana will be left with having to devise its own plan for handling bison outside the park and that likely will result in more of the animals being killed, he said.

Martin LaLonde, U.S. Justice Department lawyer, said the court had no authority to force the two sides to find compromise. Settlement of the 1995 lawsuit gave each side the ability to withdraw from the joint planning process at any time, he noted. Lovell urged the governments to consider mediation instead of a bureaucratic breakup after four years of work. "It would be a worthwhile expenditure of time, don't you think?" he said. He said many civil cases involve years of bickering between parties, but are easily settled when a mediator steps in.

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