ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS STYMIE SHAWNEE LOGGING

Mark Donham is a billboard painter in Brookport, Ill. He is a firm believer that the American court system works. Why? Because Donhan also is president of the Regional Association of Concerned Environmentalists. In that capacity, and without benefit of legal representation, he is fighting the proposed cutting of timber in the Shawnee National Forest. So far, he is winning, which means Donham's legal efforts are succeeding where the lawyers for the National Forest Service are failing.

While Donham is elated, others see his unending battle to keep chain saws out of the national forest that covers much of Southern Illinois as another example of environmental meddling.

Last week a federal judge ordered Shawnee National Forest officials to "restudy" the environmental effects of cutting pine from a 3,000-acre area of the forest. The studies made prior to Donham's original legal action in 1993 were ruled insufficient. It appears the studies will have to be redone at considerable expense to taxpayers. Meanwhile, revenue from the logging won't materialize, and neither will jobs associated with the timber industry. Perhaps the judge didn't consider those important elements of the lawsuit filed by Donham.

Unlike fossil fuels and some other non-renewable resources, trees are much like a crop of corn or soybeans. The forest service, as steward of the nation's timber resources, has a clear understanding that old trees die unless they are harvested, and new trees can be planted in ways that prove more efficient than Mother Nature.

For now, however, Donham is savoring his legal victory. "I am real gratified and so totally amazed that the system works," he said. The question remains: What exactly did he win?