ELON COLLEGE — Josh Abrams, a member of an environmental alliance that is seeking a moratorium on wood chip mills, will talk about the group’s efforts at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 9, in McKinnon Hall on the Elon College campus.
The event is free and open to the public.
The Dogwood Alliance, which is based in Brevard, believes the presence of chip mills increases land clearing, possibly at a rate faster than forests are being replenished. The group also blames the operations for destroying wildlife habitat and degrading streams, and causing traffic problems by putting heavily loaded trucks on rural roads not designed to carry them.
Operators of chip mills, which chop trees into pieces about the size of a postage stamp, say they have created a market for timber not fit for lumber that was once discarded. Chips are used to make paper and other wood products.
Last year the alliance asked Gov. Jim Hunt to declare a moratorium until a two-year study of the mills’ environmental and economic impact was completed. In a preliminary report made public earlier this month, researchers predict that in the next decade hardwood trees in the mountains and Piedmont will be cut faster than they grow. Pine plantations will continue to replace naturally growing forests.
The preliminary report does not conclude that much of this logging increase is the result of the state’s 18 chip mills. A final report will be issued in March.