| Underwater Timber Harvesting |
| Written by Hank Green | ||
| Saturday, 09 December 2006 | ||
All across the world, we've submerged forests. Huge areas of productive lands are buried beneath massive amounts of water every time we build a dam. And while we've mostly stopped building dams in America, those forests are still down there, preserved for decades, completely unproductive even as fish habitat.
One might ask "why didn't we clear-cut the forests before we damed the rivers." But Triton Logging is asking, and answering, a better question: "Why don't we clear-cut them now." Triton Logging has created a submersible lumberjack, the Sawfish, which can latch itself onto the base of a submerged tree, and cut it 'down.' I use quotation marks here because, in this case, the tree will actually be cut upwards. The sawfish connects inflatable bags to the trees, ensuring that, Instead of falling, the tree floats to the surface, where it can easily be floated to onshore processing plants. Estimates of submerged timber in British Columbia alone reach five billion board-feet (7.5 billion feet of 2x4s) and the worldwide value of submerged timber approaches $50 billion. A pretty good business opportunity, but it has yet to be seen if the sawfish, with it's multiple operators and high introductory cost, can make harvesting of long-dead forests profitable. But if it can, I'm planning on never buying wood from any other source.
Comments
(12)
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written by rob , December 10, 2006
same old
written by King , December 10, 2006
A large portion of logs cut in BC are transported by tugs and barges. The logs spend long periods of time in chained booms, so this is nothing different really.
Wet Wood
written by Hank , December 10, 2006
There's a pretty good discussion on these topics in the comments at TreeHugger, someone from Triton Logging actually answered a lot of good questions. They're already doing it, and the low oxygen content of deep-water reservoirs has kept the trees from rotting. They may be less useful than some woods, but I'm sure they have their uses. Pulp, I imagine, if nothing else.
ecosystems
written by Celia , February 07, 2007
What I want to know is what sort of ecosystem is down there now? How would this affect that ecosystem?
Environmental Impact of underwater loggi
written by Venkat Kollluru , August 01, 2007
I would like to know more about the environmenal impact of underwater logging. Water quality will change,
underwater wood as home for many species, water evaporation increase, turbiditiy increase due to sediment coming from the submerged section of the tree etc.
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written by Ken Roberts , November 23, 2007
This seems fishy to me. I'd research this much more before I put a green seal of approval on it.
How about some more eco and less geek
written by scott , November 26, 2007 I'm planning on never buying wood from any other source. That doesn't even make sense. Soaked wood is more dense than other woods and is not suitable for all uses. Also, you rarely have a choice about where the wood products in your house come from, especially if you buy from Ikea. Unless you buy from a specialty lumber shop, which most people have never even been to, you buy what is available when you're there.
Life of trees underwater
written by Victor , January 03, 2008
Hi, I was wondering how long do trees stay alive underwater before dying out and become denser in time. Also if trees could recover thier life if thelake was dried up in time to prevent them from 'drowning'. Thanks
Answer for Victor and others.
written by Ray , January 27, 2008
Once at tree is submerge it dies very quickly. Wood that has been submerged for generations picks up mineral from the water and takes on other desirable characteristics which makes this wood many times more valuable that new growth.
Some submerged wood is very, very old virgin growth wood that was logged a hundred plus years ago. Wood, such as this, has been located in the Great Lakes, rivers in the Northwest and else where. Trees have been found in peat moss bogs in Ireland and 50,000 year old trees are being unearthed in New Zealand. All this very old wood is remarkable in its' beauty and of far better quality than wood from commercial tree farms. New growth wood may have 5 to 7 growth rings per inch. ( very light ) Some of these old trees have up to 70 rings per inch. Now you know why they sank while being floated across lakes and down rivers. (very dense) If you could find such trees today, it would not be legal to cut them down. It is estimated that there are billions of board feet of usable trees buried or submerged under water. Some of these trees have been buried before the dawn of modern man. Most have been submerged for more than a century. Why not "harvest" it and let our live trees alone?
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written by jody bakker , February 11, 2008
Hi Hank. I also live in montana. In the great northwest. I have been working on a submerged timber project for a couple years. I would love to visit with you and share some of my experiences of what i see and and have experienced while locating and moving submerged timber. Hope to talk to you soon
Why?
written by Jesse Spelbring , April 28, 2008
Why would an investor want to try this? It can not be as profitable, efficient, or useful as harvesting old growth forestland. Also, the trees may be dead, but they still assist in biological filtration of the water. Wood is naturally absorbent, so any nutrients or other particals will be bound up inside the wood. If it can be researched more extensivly and thus proved to me, I would consider it a viable option. Also one must consider the uses of this timber. I have personally seen a log that was dredged up from a lake. While it has extensive uses in furniture and musicall instrument production, it is otherwise useless. In addition, very few mills are willing to prosess these logs due to the high risk of damage to equiptment(wood that is too dense has a tendency to bend or break the saw blades). Yet another issue is transportation. As soon as that timber is removed from the water, it begins to dry out. Most timber harvests must be relatively close to the mill or the logs will be to dry and the mill wil not accept them. I would go into another set of arguements, but I have a feeling I have already irritated enough people for the time being.
follow-up
written by Jesse Spelbring , April 28, 2008
As a forester, however, I would like to know more about the subject. I would esspecially like to see some raw figures about it. Overall, if it can be harvested with little to no environmental consequences, it would be a good use of the resource.
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I do some simple carpentry and like to use recovered wood (wood from old furniture is often excellent), but the structure of weathered wood changes and it becomes unreliable to work and cant take finishes. Surely this wood, would be the same????