Forestry Commissioners’ Tour West Scotland - May 1966
Some documents were passed on from the family of Tom A Robbie who was the Forestry Training School principal at Glentress 1947-1953 and also at Faskally 1953-1955 and thereafter in Conservancy Office appointments in Scotland. The items were brought to the attention of Forestry Memories by Mairi McGeachy, Business Support Manager, Aberfoyle Office.
The Forestry Commissioners undertook tours in various parts of the Forestry Commission GB estate to observe firsthand the results of past work and perhaps ongoing work on new programmes that they may well have mandated. It was also an opportune time to raise or demonstrate new facets of forestry management such as new mechanisation, visitor facilities or conservation treatments. For local forest, District and Conservancy staff these visits required considerable planning and timing to ensure the programmed visitation passed off smoothly.
The Commissioners are not named in the tour leaflet but were:
Leslie A W Jenkins (Chairman)
Henry Beresford-Peirse (Deputy Chair and Director General)
The Earl of Calisle
M Compton
E Gwynfryn Davies
J A Dickson
F Sellers
William Strang Steel
T Taylor
A Watt
The tour group based in Dunblane Hydro visited Glen Orchy Forest, Crianlarich Rail pulp wood transfer station, Strathyre Forest, Argaty, Queen Elizabeth Forest Park and Devilla Nurseries.
Some Conservancy annual programmes are:
Harvesting – 3.5 million H.ft.
Planting – 9000 ac
Roading - 42 miles
Foresters Houses to build - 11
The West Conservancy senior staff are:
J W L Zehetmayr – Conservator
T A Robbie - Assist Conservator Harvesting and Planning
E J M Davies – Assist Conservator Afforestation
W A Johnston – Land Agent
J V Dishington – Civil Engineer
F C Atkins – Mechanical Engineer
J Wharam – Admin and Finance Officer
At Glen Orchy Forest: District Officer - S Forrester, Head Forester (Eredine Forest) C R Johnston and Forester - D Sinclair.
At Crianlarach Depot hand written notes by Tom Robbie indicate at that visit 18500 tons had been dispatched with only 22 tons rejected.
At Strathyre: Forest District Officer – J H Huntly, Head Forester - Alistair Cameron, Harvesting Forester – S G Maule. Interestingly there were 29 FC houses on the forest and also the Head Forester’s garden along with the small nursery was such a tourist attraction and a major FC publicity opportunity that the small nursery was kept in production when other small forest nurseries were being closed.
Queen Elizabeth Forest Park featured caravan and camping sites (31,000 nights), David Marshall Lodge (86,000 visits), picnic sites and forest walks.
The road building programme was carried out by 14 teams each under a foreman based around an excavator with supporting compressors, drills, loaders and tippers. Civil Engineers named as Mr MacEwan and Mr Stark.
At Devilla Nursery and Forest: District Officer – W P Thomson, Chief Forester - W Fairbairn and Foresters – D Lawson and K Macdonald. Production programme – 12 million seedlings and 7 million transplants.
The full tour notes including Tom Robbie’s hand written notes are in the PDF link below.
Groups: Forestry Areas, Forestry Records, Booklets and Reports