Royal Roads University has received a gift a thousand years old, from deep underwater.

Mahogany bowl is symbol of exceptional gift “Not only are we receiving this exceptional, sustainably harvested wood product but it’s a gift from a graduate who was so inspired by his education here that he was compelled to contribute to the future of the university,” says Allan Cahoon, RRU president. He accepted a mahogany bowl from WaterForest Group - made from wood similar to that donated for flooring at the Robert Bateman Centre at Royal Roads University.

About 350,000 board feet of mahogany wood, salvaged from underwater reservoirs, has been donated as flooring for the Robert Bateman Centre at Royal Roads University.

The donation is worth about $500,000. 

“To hear (about this donation) was like an answer from heaven. It’s a wonderful gift,” said Richard Iredale, architect for the Bateman centre. “(The donation) will cover both (floors in the) the gallery and the convention centre.”

The mahogany has been donated by Victoria-based company The WaterForest Group.

The wood is harvested from the central area of Belize, said Doug Stables WaterForest Group president and RRU graduate.

“The (RRU) vision of sustainability all fit into our model,” Stable said. “The Bateman centre is all about an environmentally sustainable concept and this process helps with the deforestation of tropical rain forests.”

The company has created jobs in Belize by hiring employees and starting a day care centre. The wood is harvested and processed within the country, Stables said.

WaterForest Group salvages submerged wood Doug Stables (centre) is a graduate of RRU’s MBA program and president of the WaterForest Group. Here he is pictured with (left to right) Gerry Boivin, vice president of subsea tech ops and Dan McKay, a member of the company's Board of Advisors.

“All of the trees are already dead, they were logged 225 years ago,” Stables said. “It’s all old-growth timber over 1,000 years old.”

At the time, local people would cut down the trees and then send them down the river to be processed.

“Rivers were transportation corridors,” Stables said.

Many of the trees did not make it to their final destination and instead sunk, but were preserved in an oxygen-depleted environment, Stables said.

“We see the Bateman centre as increasing the liveliness of the campus,” Iredale said. “(The donation) is a perfect, sustainable product because it’s salvaged.”

The Robert Bateman Centre is planned to eventually become a “living building,” a new level of sustainability that takes into account the life-cycle of the structure. The future building will house $10.7 million worth of Robert Bateman’s artwork in a variety of mediums.

Reprinted with permission from Goldstream News Gazette.