LOOK FOR WAYS TO HELP, NOT HURT, WOOD-CHIP MILLS

What is troubling about Gov. Mel Carnahan's handling of what he and certain environmentalists see as the "problem" with wood-chip mills is that the "solution" amounts to little more than executive-branch fiat.

Wood-chip mills grind up low-value trees -- including the limbs left behind in logging operations -- to be used in a number of wood-based products. For owners of the forest-intensive, hilly land across southern Missouri, the chip mills offer cash for a crop that would otherwise go unharvested.

Environmentalists are concerned about clear cutting and erosion. But so are most of the landowners who supply wood to the chip mills. One mill, Canal Industries Inc. at the Southeast Missouri Port Regional Port near Scott City, requires loggers to receive special training.

The governor, whose family has deep roots in the rocky forests of Carter County where land-poor farmers are enjoying a steady income from chip-mill sales, has been unduly swayed by the environmentalists. He has ordered a study of chip mills, required chip mills to keep records of where trees are harvested and put a moratorium on state economic incentives to encourage more chip mills.

The grandfathers of many of today's loggers worked to cut most of the pine forests that spread across southern Missouri at the time. Now hardwood trees are predominant. And those trees can provide a better income in areas of the state with the highest unemployment -- if the governor will allow it.