Oykel Forest — Rosehall Planting Map
Maps courtesy of North Highland Forest District, Golspie and photographed by Norman Davidson.
This appears to be the first plantings in what was Oykel Forest centred around Rosehall Village on the Lairg to Oykel Bridge Road. The numbering and order of the compartments is somewhat difficult to follow but certainly starts at No1 and ends at No39 with the planting year figures almost faded from view but again starting at 1953 and ending at 1958. The acquired area obviously contained some areas of well grown birch and other trees plus some older Scots pine and Larch all of which have been left untouched with some areas being given compartment numbers and others not.
Quite a high proportion of the whole area was planted with Scots pine and some Sitka spruce but also included a wide range of other species such as European larch, Japanese larch, hybrid larch, Western hemlock, Abies nobilis, and Norway spruce. In fact quite a detail species choice which would have reflected the varied soil types in the area and the forester training of the time to try and plant a tree species according to subtle changes in ground and ground vegetation.
There is some uncertainty over the next follow on set of Compartment numbers which appear in Langwell Wood starting at No 49 but the planting only took place there from 1960 -1961 and is likely to have been part of Balblair Forest. The planting year sequence however carried on in 1958 into the Rossal and Balnagown acquisition areas. There is some evidence that the Rosehall acquisition area extended further east towards Altass and Linsidemore and the planting map may have been mislaid.
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Groups: Caithness and Sutherland, Maps of Forest and Woodland Areas