Submarine Lumberjacks Harvest Underwater Forests
by Jacob Gordon, Nashville, TN 
on 11.30.06
The underwater forests of the world are waiting to be harvested. When massive hydroelectric dams are created, huge areas of forest are often flooded, submerging habitats and displacing whatever human communities happened to call that place home. But the forests that become part of the underwater landscape can be well preserved for decades, and are still viable stocks of timber. Harvesting underwater lumber from rivers and man-made lakes is not a brand new idea, but Triton Logging Co., the “underwater harvesting specialist”, has a bit of an edge. The Sawfish is a 7,000 lb, unmanned logging submarine that is remotely controlled from the surface. The robotic lumberjack latches onto the trunk of a submerged tree, attaches inflatable airbags to the trunk, deploys its chainsaw, and then releases the tree to float up to the surface.
The Sawfish is powered by electric motors, sports eight video camera eyes as well as sonar, and uses “biodegradable and vegetable oil-based hydraulic fluids.” Triton estimates that British Colombia alone has five billion board feet of salvageable lumber submerged underwater and that the number could exceed 100 billion board feet worldwide. The estimated value of these some odd 300 million submerged trees is $50 billion.
Submerged timber harvested by Triton is all certified as SmartWood Rediscovered by the Rainforest Alliance. According to BuildingGreen, Triton harvests Douglas fir, western white pine, lodgepole pine, and hemlock year round in British Colombia. Triton’s Sawfish is one of BuildingGreen’s top ten green building products for 2006. :: Triton Logging Co. via BuildingGreen
Follow @TreeHugger on Twitter & get our headlines with @TH_rss!
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- For Green Travel Visit Madagascar, Home to 5 Percent of the Planet's Species
- Surf Green with Eco-Friendly Surf Gear
- Planet Green and Redwood Creek Announce the $50,000 Great Outdoors Grant Winner
- Focus Earth: June 13, 2009: Everglades Nevermore and Snake Invaders
- Support Obama's Ocean Policy with a Friendly Letter
- 5 Staycations You Can Take At Home
...Sawfish is one of BuildingGreen’s top ten green building products for 2006.
Really? Seems like a very, very energy-intensive way to get lumber.
Ok, my bad. I just noticed "slightly buoyant" and "40-75 HP electric motor, using biodegradable and vegetable oil-based hydraulic fluids" on the website.
Good product. Still like to see the LCA on that timber, though.
Really? Seems like a very, very energy-intensive way to get lumber.
Hard to tell. I'm sure it's a lot safer.
I'm really amazed that no one is complaining about the loss of fish habitat.
Does seem a little absurd.
Ie. Do they have a variant for the Chernobyl rad-danger zone?
how 'bout no damns?!
why not harvest the wood before the flooding?
Yeah I'm kind of with Fool on this - perhaps damming in this first place isn't so green. On the other hand of course it's a simple fact that it happens so if anything remotely positive can be done then I'm all for it. Besides those little robots look cool!
how 'bout no damns?!
-fool
how 'bout no electricity? your suggestion is borderline absurd.
Not a bad idea, salvage divers also raise sunken logs from lakes and rivers as well. Sounds less harmfull than on land loging where equipement damages the land
fool, now that the dams are in place this is how it should be:
1. No building new dams.
2. Leave the ones that are operational and producing hydro power cleanly. Tthe damage has already been done and we need the clean power sources.
3. Where possible remove those that are non-productive and can be safely removed so the land can revert to a natural state. Each case would need to be looked at because in some cases the lake/pond may be a valuable habitat in it's own right.
Really? Seems like a very, very energy-intensive way to get lumber.
It's better than letting all those trees decompose and releasing methane. That's generally the purpose of cutting down the trees.
how 'bout no damns?!
Ear muffs. :)
Why weren't/isn't this lumber harvested BEFORE the waters rise? I mean damming a river does not happen overnight.
In my experience - submerged logs that have been underwater for any significant amount of time is not going to float to the surface.
I can't imagine these "underwater forests" look anything like the silly illustration.
Well, when global warming comes to fruition, there'll be a big need for underwater chainsaws. Underwater lots of things.
I'm sure trees that have been sitting underwater for any length of time become less and less useful as lumber. It must seriously effect the integrity of the wood...wouldnt you think??
I'm sure trees that have been sitting underwater for any length of time become less and less useful as lumber. It must seriously effect the integrity of the wood...wouldnt you think??
Actually, it's can be the opposite.
http://www.acbs-bslol.com/Porthole/AlvinClark.htm
guys, this is obviously a hoax.
Their web site doesn't look like a hoax to me. Underwater ROV tech has been around for quite a while now so someone just thought of a new trick for it. Their web site says that human divers can only go down about 25M to do this job so one would assume that they have been doing this for some time and needed a way to work deeper.
I researched this subject 2 years ago and was fascinated.
Yes, the wood generally stays intact and usable even after a long time under water.
Yes, there is a lot of standing wood under water in many places in the world.
Yes, it is real - not a hoax - many companies are working with the sunken wood resource though most are looking at raising logs sunk during transport, not whole trees.
I know one small company who are in the Amazon trying to raise sunken logs . One log raised is one less tree cut down. It makes sense to me.
The Smartwood certification also proves this point.
Good discussion. Here are some quick facts from us at Triton:
Why didn't they harvest trees before flooding? Simple reason: Hydro power was more valuable than trees, and clearing a valley takes 10 times longer than flooding it. Sadly, in the 20th century, economics always trumped environment.
Why don't the trees rot? It's oxygen that rots wood and there's very little oxygen in water. So the trees are perfectly preserved.
Is this a hoax? No, it's very real. Flooded forests look just like the illustration, but with more trees. We see it everyday.
Fish habitat: Standing forests are not natural fish habitats, though they do adapt. Removing most of the trees, leaving some behind and repatriating branches for artificial reefs leaves the reservoirs in better shape for aquatic life.
Watch for Triton in WIRED in Feb. Contact Triton via our website if you have more questions... Thanks.
so...will we be able to cook all that excess whale meat in Japan with the wood?
I love these enviromental nuts. that speak against this type of stuff. Enviromentalist use cell phones, drive cars, live in houses made of wood, use ELCTRICITY provided by hydro-damns, use plastic made from oil,.....I could go on forever and I could still say more....
So stop the protesting and invest in companies that support your bottomline. Which is a sustainable relationship between humans and ecosystems.