PANEL FOCUSES ON MISSOURI'S TIMBER, NOT CHIP MILLS

A special committee that studied chip mills in Missouri and their effect on the environment took a sensible approach by focusing more on broader forestry issues than chip mills themselves.

In fact, Gov. Mel Carnahan's advisory committee on chip mills went to the trouble to point out that the mills weren't frequently mentioned in its report because broader forestry issues come into play when discussing the protection of Missouri's forests. Only two recommendations that actually mentioned chip mills were included in the committee's 186-page report.

Chip mills, which have been in operation in southern Missouri since 1997, process trees for paper and fiberboard manufacturers. Some environmentalists have complained that cutting of timber for chip-mill materials, particularly clear-cutting, is detrimental to the environment. A 1998 report by the Missouri Department of Conservation said runoff from chip-mill harvests would damage Ozarks streams if best-management practices aren't used.

The committee was wise in not putting all the blame for any environmental damage on chip mills when trees are being cut across southern Missouri's vast forests for many other purposes as well. As committee member Wayne Goode, a state senator from St. Louis, noted, "When we got into the issue, we discovered it's a general forestry issue as well as just chip mills." And state Rep. Bill Foster of Poplar Bluff, a committee member, explained that every time harvesting for chip mills was discussed, the fact that loggers and sawmillers do the same thing came up.

Committee member and forester Jay Law said focusing on chip mills wouldn't put and end to large clear-cuts in the Ozarks. All the timber from those clear-cuts isn't even going to chip mills, he said.

The committee's recommendation that best-management practices be required for cuts that remove more than half the timber from any plot 40 acres or larger is a reasonable recommendation one forestry officials should stress to timber cutters.

Those who harvest timber for a living, whether it be for chip mills or lumber, know the value of Missouri's forests, and they know forests must be replenished if they are to continue to rely on them for their livelihood. Those who clear-cut or otherwise overcut without regard to the environment should be further educated.

In this case, the governor's committee saw the forest through the trees.