FCA Magazine (Forest Forum) - Issue 76: Winter 2022
FC staff Retirement Association magazine. The content summary below was very kindly compiled by Diane Birkett, Bedfordshire. See PDF attachment below the text to view the full document. A total of 77 issues were completed between 1997 and the final issue in 2023. Issue 76
Forest Forum – Winter 2022-23
The Forest Forum edition features: -
Articles
Two Identical Feet
In 1971 Gordon Griffiths appealed for suggestions, but hasn’t received any responses yet. As a Field Surveys forester, he had to compare forest boundaries with those marked on a map to see if the fence line coincided with the legal boundary. This required walking up and down hills all day, from the heather covered mountains to the steamy damp locality of rivers and streams. Due to these extremes it is difficult to know what footwear to use – boots for the hills or wellingtons for the damp boggy surrounds of streams. He preferred to wear laced leather boots instead of Wellington boots which make the feet feel hot. He says the dilemma would be eased considerably if he could wear one of each and change them from one foot to the other. He would use the 'wellington foot' to stride streams and boggy patches, and change footwear when one foot became too hot or the leg became sore from the other familiar complaint 'Wellington Boot Rub'. Maybe some experienced forester could help?
Brechfa Forest Garden
Ian Blake was amongst a gathering of about 50 foresters visiting the RFS Brachfa Forest Garden in July, which was hosted by NRW and Forest Research. Brechfa Forest Garden covers a site of some 11 ha near Abergorlech on either side of a ridge dividing two tributaries of the Afon Gothi. The Forest Garden was established in the late 1950s and early 1960s by local foresters with the apparent objective of creating a collection of species to assess their suitability for forest use. The site currently contains 72 plots of 70 different species; 39 are conifers and 31 broadleaves. Although early data is scarce, an invaluable list of seed origins and planting treatments has survived. Some establishment records also survive from 1965, 1968, 1983 & 1988. The plots are located at elevations between 150m and 250m and are on slopes of both northerly and southerly aspects. Before planting the whole area was open hillside grazed by sheep. Forest Research took on management of the site in 1982 and undertook work to clear neglected plots, brash trees and open up access paths. The site is now managed by Natural Resources Wales.
What I Did in the Forestry Commission
Peter Walker began his long and varied career with the Forestry Commission by attending Gwydyr FTS in 1956. After completing the course in 1958, he was appointed assistant forester in Rheola Forest, Neath where he worked with Norman Smith, Gordon Morris, Charlie Wild and Alun James. He worked with John England in Crynant Forest where he was introduced to opencast coal mine restoration planting. Subsequent postings included horse-logging down steep-sided slopes, planting a section alongside the M4 motorway and planning and reparation of the Cwmcarn Scenic Drive, which opened in 1972. Many more postings followed until he retired in 1995.
Valediction
Arthur Miller joined the Forestry Commission in 1959 and looks back on the Forestry Commission through the lens of his own career. He includes several photographs including one taken at Gwydyr Forest in 1962 which shows Joe Kingsmill, Roger Mitchell, Ash Brown, Arthur Miller and Brian Lloyd Jones.
Obituaries
Ian Blake and his colleagues have memories of Gordon Morris who was born in 1927 and died on 21st November 2022, aged 95 years.
Norman Davidson reports the death of John Keenleyside who started his forestry career as an apprentice forester for five years on Ford and Etal Estate near Berwick on Tweed. After attending a three month forestry course at Raby Castle Estate, Durham he was allocated a two year placement at Glentress Forester Training School from 1951-53. On gaining his ‘Foresters Certificate’ John was posted in August 1953 to the Silviculture North outstation of Forest Research at Wykeham near Scarborough, North Yorks. At the time Wykeham had three different types of nursery; agricultural, heathland and woodland and a Research reserved area with over 80 experiments dating from the 1920s. And so began John’s long association with sylviculture and forest research.
Groups: Forestry Commission staff magazines