Drowned logs, sunken trees, and wood from building demolition are all considered rediscovered wood. The environmental promise of using rediscovered wood is to reduce the impact of logging and the attendant road building on forests.

Roads allow an influx of invasive species, and they increase erosion and runoff to surface waters. And roads are very common in forests. According to a 2000 report from the National Center for Policy Analysis titled Banning Roads, Burning Forests , the National Forest System has over 383,000 miles of roads—eight times the mileage of the interstate highway system—on its 192 million acres. Most of these roads were built for timber harvesting, but have since been adopted by recreational forest visitors.

Rainforest Alliance SmartWood homepage. New York, NY: Rainforest Alliance. Available: http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/programs/f...index.html [accessed 7 October 2004].