Water logged. (Clippings).

Logging always seems to engender debate, but in communities along the Ottawa River in Canada, the practice has taken on a less controversial, more environmentally sound tone.

A Canadian-based company, Logs End Inc., is going underwater to recover lost timbers from abandoned mills, factories, homesteads, and lumber camps. The old-growth logs sank in the Ottawa River in the late 1800s during a time of heavy logging in Canada.

After 150 years the logs are still in pristine condition, thanks to low water temperatures and the age and quality of the wood. The "recycled" wood is being sold for buildings, furniture. And flooring.

The Ottawa River was a major transportation route for the old-growth red and white pines logged from forests along the banks of the Ottawa River beginning in the 1870s. Arriving in Quebec City the logs were sawn into lumber and shipped around the world. By the turn of the century, as millions of logs were floated down the river, many sank and were never recovered. Experts estimate that there are at least 11,000 logs preserved in the icy Ottawa River waters.

Logs End Inc. has adopted a "zero waste" policy for the underwater lumber it harvests and says it's committed to the "environmentally sound" retrieval of submerged logs, called "deadheads."

In fact, Michael Robertson of C.D.C. in British Columbia, says underwater logging actually benefits marine life by increasing the nutrients in water. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Wisconsin's Department of Natural Resources undertook an intense study of the impact of underwater logging, concluding that the practice neither harms fish nor contributes to pollution.

Although AMERICAN FORESTS isn't in the "recycled logs" business, it does plant trees to reforest areas damaged by human and natural causes. You can plant some trees when you click on www.americanforests.org.