Under the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, close to the Alabama coast, an eerie sight met the eyes of environmental journalist Ben Raines when he followed the advice of local scuba dive operators in 2012 and swam down 60 feet to the ocean floor.
The ghostly trunks of a vast cypress forest, submerged for tens of thousands of years, rose out of the sediment, covered in sponges, anemones, shipworms and clams, surrounded by shoals of colourful fish and grazed by shrimps and sea turtles.
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Scientists believe the ancient trees had been overwhelmed by rising sea levels at the end of an early ice age as the water that had been locked in glaciers was released when the climate warmed. The ancient lower shoreline has never been restored and the cypresses never saw the light of day again. They succumbed to the salty water and were gradually swamped by sediments running off the land.
There they stayed, only about 10 miles off the present Alabama shore, their leafy parts rotting away but their sturdy trunks and splayed-out roots preserved in the oxygen-starved environment. Then Hurricane Ivan tore through the region in 2004 and its giant destructive waves swept away the trees’ protective muddy covering.
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These were mighty trees, some with circumferences of 30 feet, that had lived by the coast for hundreds of years before they entered their watery grave. They are a record from a time when lush, giant vegetation covered much of the planet’s land mass. One of the most amazing aspects of the find for the scientists was the fact that when they sawed into the wood to take samples for analysis they found it was like cutting into a recently felled tree – it showed no signs of decay and even smelled of freshly exposed resin.
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Since the discovery a race was run to preserve the site of the forest and save the trees from salvage companies before they could be exploited to make quirky furniture. The exact location of this underwater heritage site was kept a closely guarded secret.
Attempts by a furniture manufacturer to apply for permits to extract wood were fended off. Local politicians put forward a proposal for the creation of a marine sanctuary to protect not only the forest but all the sea creatures now living on and around it. The scientists held their breaths.
It took until July 2024, but an overwhelming bipartisan vote in the US Congress finally passed a bill that created the Alabama Underwater Forest National Marine Sanctuary. This forbids the cutting or removing of the cypress trees, dredging, drilling or using explosives on or above the seabed, and the laying of any cables in the area.
Although the trees will now eventually decay, having been exposed to the normal processes that break down organic material when the sediment was washed away, they will not do so for a long time. The current challenge of the Alabama Coastal Foundation, which is overseeing the forest, is to raise the funds needed to manage the sanctuary and conserve its unique habitat.
For now, the cypress trees rest in peace, fascinating scientists and entrancing divers with their prehistoric majesty.
