Forestry Memories

Culbin Forest - Planting Map

This text is to be updated as the photograph is a trial. The image is made up from about 6 photographs stitched together to try and ensure that the edges are reasonably sharp. The Large Version image is therefor very large and people will be able to see detail from edge to edge but it will take longer to down load.

A PDF of the same area has been added but shows up as a page for each section of the map.

Any comments on this system would be very welcome.

This is a composite map image constructed from several overlapping images of parts of the whole planting map which seems to have been used from 1935 to around 1959 . The map is courtesy of Moray and Aberdeenshire Forest District Office. This is not the original map used to record the planting years, compartments and species but one that seems to have been redrawn in 1935 but rechecked by the Conservancy Office in 1947 after the forest was handed back to the Forestry Commission following its use for war exercises. Never the less it is as the original map and provides a wealth of detail on how the initial plantings progressed and some information on local sand, ground and vegetation details. There are some interesting comments around the seaward and estuary sides of the planting on sand either gathering or receding and a few notes on local landmark names – Elven’s Point and Duncan’s Hill being two. It should be noted that this map was used up until late 1950s and comprises of several separate land acquisitions which formed Culbin Forest.

The map confirms the initial phase of the planting as the replacement of the war time felled woodlands with the earliest planting in 1922 in Compartment No 53. The actual planting species has not been shown as they used only Scots pine and nothing else at this stage. The outline of the 1938 fire can just be made out from a thin red line and annotation RP FY40 (Replant Forest Year 1940) around compartments 132, 135, 145 and 150.

Observing the various planting years shown by green figures (P25 designating that the area was planted for growing season 1925) it is seen that the planting progressed eastwards, initially, until the boundary of the felled area was reached and the difficult sand dune areas began. Planting then moved back to the initial start area and continued westwards to compartments 113 – 158 and so on until they ran out of ground in the initial acquisitions. It seems they had just started to tackle the more difficult sand areas in the east again in 1939 when the area was requisitioned by the army and navy and work stopped and all had to leave the area. After the return of the area by the armed services, this area was the focus of the planting work again from 1947 onwards to 1954 and involved the transport in of thousands of loads of tree branches and tops as well as road side grass and other material to thatch the surface of the mobile sand dunes. A massive operation but one which ultimately succeeded particularly when Corsican pine was used as the main species in the deeper sand areas.

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