The logs sank a century or so ago, sentries to history as four Georgia rivers ebbed and flowed around them. Should they now be sold to the highest bidder?
One of the Senate's top lawmakers believes so, keeping alive a debate whether loggers may raise the sunken logs and sell the wood. It has raged for years, with a one-time state ban on the practice giving way to a failed pilot program and ongoing lawsuits. Just last year, the House derailed an effort by two votes to again make it legal.
Now "deadhead" logging may be back.
The very thought is anathema to environmentalists, who say the practice chokes waterways with sediment and contaminants and eliminates habitats for fish and aquatic species.
But Senate President Pro Tem Tommie Williams, R-Lyons, said deadhead logs should be fair game.
Williams' Senate Bill 362, which will be considered Wednesday in the Senate Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committee, would allow individuals to bid for the right to raise deadhead logs from the Altamaha, Flint, Ocmulgee and Oconee rivers.
Cut down by ax or saw during the 19th and early 20th centuries, the logs were floated down these rivers and nearby streams to coastal markets, with some sinking along the way. Cut primarily from old-growth forests of longleaf pine and cypress trees, the logs have characteristics not found in modern timber, with a fine grain and color highly valued for flooring and other carpentry.
"When my granddaddy pulled that ox and cart down to the river, he intended that log to get to somebody who’d want to purchase it," said Williams, who keeps wood samples in his Capitol office desk. "This is not a natural occurrence [the logs being in the river]. It was an accident. It’s jobs to those people who want to swim down in that dark water with them gators. And they retail it. There are homeowners who would love to have a table or floor."
In a nod to critics, the bill would allow the state Department of Natural Resources to deem parts of the four rivers off-limits because of environmental or safety concerns. It sets insurance and training requirements for loggers. And the state would reap the proceeds of any accepted bid for the work.
Yet Flint Riverkeeper Gordon Rogers, an environmentalist and former state fisheries biologist, said restrictions do not change the damage and disruption to local ecosystems. He and Williams have known each other 20 years -- and disagreed just as long about deadhead logging.
"Nothing's changed, including the senator's obsession," Rogers said.
Georgia first prohibited the practice in 1998, as commercial deadhead logging was on the rise. In 2003, a state-appointed Submerged Timber Task Force advised against allowing deadhead logging before undertaking scientific studies. Among its concerns were the potential harm to biological resources, including largemouth bass and endangered mussels.
Two years later, with no studies completed, the General Assembly moved ahead anyway when Williams sponsored a law to create a pilot logging program on parts of the Altamaha and Flint rivers. Instead of accepting bids, the DNR itself studied the market and set the price at roughly $500 a log. Loggers stayed away, complaining the price was too high. The program expired in 2008.
In the meantime, a company called Aqua Log, based in Cairo, sued the state to gain access to the logs. In three separate cases, Aqua Log challenged the state's position that it owns the logs because they are on the bottom of Georgia's rivers. The position is notable because, according to the state constitution, the state is forbidden from giving away a publicly owned asset.
All three cases are ongoing. Without a final ruling, other senators said they were hesitant to tackle the issue again. "I see no need to rush this," said Sen. Doug Stoner, D-Smyrna. "The logs aren't going anywhere."
Still, Williams will likely get a friendly reception Wednesday: SB 362 is co-sponsored by the Agriculture Committee's chairman, Sen. John Bulloch, R-Ochlocknee.
Williams knows the rivers he will talk about. He said he put land he owns on the Altamaha, the Ocmulgee and the Oconee in a conservation easement so they cannot be developed. He said he is also planting longleaf pine to help repopulate the forest.
"None of this, if somebody were to retrieve logs, I don’t benefit from it," Williams said.
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