Leanachan Forest (North East)– Lochaber – Forest Map circa 1990
The map was recovered from shed at Newton Nursery which acted as a storage area for Forest Research who used the maps to locate forest and tree experiments in the field.
The main area of Leanachan Forest was acquired in 1933 from an Investment company and totalled over 3000ha. (The inset Mucomir forest area was acquired in the late 1960s) The area initially acquired lay south and east of the Fort William to Glasgow railway line across rising ground to a flat moor and then partially up the steeper slopes of the Ben Nevis mountain outliers. This map depicts the north eastern section accessed by a narrow public road going in as far as the Leanachan House and former Forest Worker Holdings occupied in the 1960s – one by S Prelic and the other by Mike Tynne and family.
The planting sequence is difficult to discern but much of the area was planted in the 1950s and early 1960s. An irregular line follows some plantings in the late 1940s and is likely to be the extent of a large forest fire (circa 1950s) that burnt a huge area of the forest and required the assistance of military personnel to help extinguish it. Details are very sketchy. Much of the planting is Sitka spruce with areas of mixtures with Lodgepole pine plus larch in firebelts along the minor public road and railway line edge. The Lon Leanachan unplanted bog area is located in Compartment 3029.
The inset map area is of Mucomir Forest next to the Commando Memorial. The area, Mucomir Farm, was acquired in 1965 and planted 1968-1970 although a fire destroyed an area next to the A82 public road which was replanted in 1981.
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Groups: Forestry Areas, Maps of Forest and Woodland Areas