The FC Postings of John C. Keenleyside
My third FC posting was to Silviculture North outstation at Ardross in Dec 1957. The grade was still as an Assistant Forester but there were increments on the salary scale of some £10 pounds and occasionally one of £15 pounds. Ten pounds would cover the car’s comprehensive insurance for a year, whilst the generous £15 would cover the car tax for a year instead.
The Forester in charge of this outstation was Geoff Bartlett an F.C. trained forester but one who had served in the Armed forces and risen to the rank of Major. He lived in a F.C. house at Mid Ardross. The office was an 8 x 6ft hut at the road side complete with Forester wood burning stove and Tilley Lamp, electricity was creeping up the glen but had not reached this far - now they have giant wind turbines and the community are receiving financial benefit from these.
The boundaries of the area were quite simple, the three Northern counties, Ross-shire, Caithness and Sutherland. The odd factors compared with earlier postings were:
1. No Industrial labour force, we were supposed to get the loan of labour from Consevancy foresters but they were hard pushed with big planting programmes so it became a Do it Yourself much of the time.
2. We had no experimental reserve at Ardross. The first expt. was established whilst I was there - a manuring expt. of pole stage Scots pine which extended to 81 plots with various treatments of N.P.K.Ca.Mg. This fertiliser had to be weighed up at base taken to site by landrover and trailer then humped up the hill on our backs.
Older established experiments existed in the Black Isle at Findon and Millbuie. The real pioneering work was much further north at Shin (Dalchork), Naver (Rimsdale) and Rumster (Causeymire). All were areas with deep peat which was difficult to plough and drain. We established a big plot at Rimsdale on deep peat with fertiliser treatments, Lodgepole pine provenances and other species trials on a small scale. During this work we stayed at the Garvault Hotel, miles from anywhere else but very well fed and catered for. There was a range of earlier experiments along the North coast at Watten, Skiall, Forss, Strathy, Borgie which we continued to monitor and measure.
We were also involved in trying to arrest the Dunnet sands and establish Corsican pine. They tried to repeat the Culbin story but this was a much tougher location. Brushwood was driven up from the Black Isle in lorry loads in an attempt to stabilise the dunes but the sand was driven at such force by the winds that it got embedded in the cambium layer of the planted trees and the salt element killed many of them. Borgie was a forest commenced on day 1 of the Forestry Commission and early experiments established there were destroyed by fire during world war II but further work on cultivation, fertilisers and L.P. provenances followed.
On the West Coast there was an experimental reserve at Achnashellach (Golden Valley) with early L.P. provenances and ground preparation methods. The other notable feature here was king size midges, clouds of them! North Strome suffered from some windblow and we were involved in a re-stocking experiment to try and increase the range
of species planted which included some broadleaves. We did work here on preparation of pulp wood prior to the opening of the Fort William pulp mill. Pulp was cut, stacked, weighed, sampled weekly and from this work came the six week fell to mill rule.
In 1959 I was summoned to appear at a promotion board to forester in Drumsheugh Gardens Edinburgh. I was successful but one did not get the increased salary until one was sent to a post that carried that grade. Foresters were ten a penny at that time so I soldiered on under the cane of Major Geoff Bartlett who was fine to work with and good at organising the troops, the trouble was that he had no troops to organise.!!! I did not mention my domestic accommodation problems in the bothy at Ardross as these were covered by the Dublin Bothy story where after excellent accommodation and food on previous postings I hit the bottom on arrival there.
I was offered a post in Research at Drumtochty and so in Jan 1961 on to post No 4 with the challenges of an In-charge post, an Assistant forester and a small squad.
Photograph - John Keenleyside writes ‘This is Shin Forest, Lairg, where Experiment No. 1 - P.61 - SS Provenance Experiment was located in Dalchork Forest plantation. The ploughing took place in November1960, the operator being Donnie Dingwall from Contin, Torrachilty Forest.
Groups: Forest Research, Forestry Areas