Corrour Forest planting map for spring/summer 1971
The image has been provided by Stephen Newsom, Aberdour, who has scanned the map used by his father Geoff Newsom while Head Forester at Corrour Forest in 1968-1971.
This map details the species and location of the forest planting in the calendar year 1971. It has been annotated as P72 but perhaps this is not strictly correct. If recalled correctly the Forestry Commission annual report year used to run from October to September to coincide with the autumn – spring planting season. This changed around 1968/69 to the more familiar April to March annual report year coinciding with the traditional financial year. This caused some problems in naming the actual planting or P year for the new plantings. In the end it was resolved by decreeing that the year of the first growing season would be named as the actual P year even if the planting spanned two financial years.
The map details all the compartments and the species used much of which were varieties of Lodgepole pine (provenances) such South Coastal (SC), North Coastal (NC), Skeena River (SK), Alaskan (AL), Southern Interior (SI) and ? (GP). Sitka spruce seed origin is named as Queen Charlotte Islands (QCI) the area now renamed as Haida Gawii.
Perhaps fortunately there is a substantial area of Sitka spruce which may have provided a productive timber crop. Of the Lodgepole pine provenances one would imagine that the North Coastal, Skeena and Alaskan varieties would have grown reasonably well. Over later years The South Coastal varieties proved to be good growers but very poor stem form while the Southern Interior tended to fade away and die in exposed situations. This was then capped by other pine diseases and even caterpillar attacks. Can anyone recall what the provenance annotated as LP(GP) was?
The other significant issue could well have been the use of tubed seedlings to plant a portion of the area. Tubed seedlings could be produced in the nursery in about 6-8 weeks and helped bulk out planting stock when normal two or three year old plants were in short supply. The tubed seedlings, at only about 3 inches high, were however very prone to winter frost damage and just a tasty bite to any passing grouse, hare or deer. Many did not survive. The table at the side indicates that the total planting for the 1971 season was quantified as 399ha. The units of measurement had just changed in 1971 and 1972 to cubic metres and hectares.
Going by later correspondence Geoff seems to have had some issues with what he perceived to be the correct species for some localities and the species as designated by senior staff. It is not clear what the actual differences were. The actual supply of the requested tree species may also have been a problem. As Corrour was a late season planting forest some requested species may well have been running out in the nurseries and substitutions offered. Tree bags and cold stores were in their infancy.
See large image link below for more detailed view of map.
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