Too many of Utah's wild trees are being devastated by beetles and other insects that burrow in and destroy a healthy tree that may be weakened by drought or competition from too many other plants. The situation can be blamed, in part, on an outdated forest-management policy of suppressing all forest fires.

Forest managers now know that fire is a natural thinning mechanism that helps keep forests healthy. Still, fires must be suppressed in ever-larger areas where people are building homes in and near forests. Today, forest management includes dealing with the results of decades of overzealous firefighting that created overgrowth.

When Utah's forests need thinning, it makes sense that local loggers, who have a vested interest in maintaining a continuing supply of healthy trees, should at least have the same opportunity for government contracts as out-of-state companies.

That's why a "forest restoration partnership working group" created by Gov. Olene Walker to help sawmills in southern Utah communities such as Escalante and Panguitch is a good idea.

The group's eight members will represent state and local loggers and government officials and U.S. Forest Service staff who will begin meeting in about 45 days to decide how to secure a certain percentage of logging contracts for local companies.

Much of the government-contract work would be thinning trees and removing vegetation that is clogging the forest to reduce insect infestation and disease. Some other contracts would be for commercial logging.

The idea behind the partnership group is that sawmills in Escalante and Panguitch, struggling to survive as logging contracts have diminished, would see economic benefits along with their home communities. The forests would also benefit from some thinning.

Critics say there is not enough money to be made by thinning and restoration work to keep the rural sawmills in business and that too much logging might be allowed to help the local companies. Those arguments are valid. Walker's group must resist any effort to keep sawmills viable at the expense of the dwindling pinon and pine forests that remain in Utah. There is also an unanswered question of how this effort might affect the resolution of who controls roads in these areas.

Nevertheless, the economic value of the mills makes the idea worth a try. And the governor's partnership group is a viable vehicle for studying how best to keep the money at home where the forests are.