Forest Record of Forest of Deer, Aberdeenshire
Record Book courtesy of Forestry Commission Moray and Aberdeenshire Forest District, Huntly.
This is one of a few Forest Record Books that have survived since this system of recording the details of the forest work in each new forest was changed after the early 1950s. Two copies of the book were maintained one at the forest and the other by the District Officer but in reality both were maintained by the District Office as it was only they who had a typist. It is likely the forester had to provide a written summary for the DO to work off.
The hard back cover had a sophisticated and durable locking system to retain the loose leaf pages as they were added when each year’s work was completed. The pages came in several categories R3 – Staff Record; R4 – Annual summary of Operations; R6 Silvicultural Notes by Year; R7 – Plantation History. Looking over the forms and also the print run details on their bottom edge this system of recording work was only initiated in 1935 and ended circa 1953. No doubt these forms were themselves summarised by Division, Country and Nationally. The form R1 still survives today as the annual planting record and always had its own folder.
As Forest of Deer was started in 1927 it preceded the start of the Forest Records but the Divisional and District Officers and Foresters since the start have all been named.
The Divisional Officers would have been based in Aberdeen and covered part of the the Conservancy. They have been named as J F Annand 1927, R G Forbes 1933, H M Steven 1934, F Scott 1938 and acting Divisional Officer L A Newton 1939 after which they are no longer recorded. In newspaper cutting dated circa 1965 – 69, R G Horne is named as North Divisional Officer of Aberdeen Conservancy and shown as presenting a retirement gift to James Thow (see below).
The local District Officers covering several forests have been named as J K Leven 1927, R C Smith 1928, D V Murray 1932, A Watt 1935, T H Woolridge 1938, D W Harvey 1940 and I Gillespie 1940 - 1946 after which recording stops.
The Foresters in charge are named as A Ross 1927 and J B Thow from 1940 – 1946 after which recording stops. There are records elsewhere on the site to say that James Thow retired from Forest of Deer around 1965-69 after 35 years in the forest and must have been working as an assistant to A Ross for some time.
On the silviculture and new planting details it is notable that single furrow ploughing was carried out on an area in 1935 and that the FC acquired quite a large area of existing plantations some dating back to 1890. The early planting programmes were quite extensive at over 200 acres per year but by1936 they were starting to tail down and eventually almost stopped during the war years. Felling by the TSD in 1940 and HGTPD in 1941 is noted on much of the acquired plantations. Delgaty Forest gets a brief mention in 1953 as the records close.
Groups: Forestry Areas, Forestry Records, Booklets and Reports, Northeast Scotland