Clunes Forest – Lochaber- Main area near Achnacarry and Loch Lochy – Forest Map circa 1988
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. Map was in a rumpled state and composite image of low quality. Please see attached PDFs which show closer detail of parts of the forest.
Area was acquired in the early days of the Forestry Commission (1928) from Cameron of Locheil Estate. An area of around 2200ha was purchased and shown by the dark boundary line. Unfortunately the names of the early foresters are not known but that of AW (Fred?) Officer is shown as being in charge in 1947, A W Morison in 1955, D M (Donnie) Laird in 1960, J D Grant in 1964, T J (Tom) Galt in 1966 and followed by W D (Dan) Macpherson at some point. Dan was in charge in the late 1960s and assisted by Charlie Fleming and Sandy MacLure. Several timber semi-detached houses were built (probably early 1950s) for forestry workers but no details of workers names or of clerical staff are known.
The forest map does show the early planting years as early as 1928 and very surprisingly they are further down the side of Loch Lochy at the extreme eastern end of the acquired area. Was there a track or road there in the early days or were boats used?
The planting of a variety conifer species mix continues westward towards Loch Arkaig (White Bridge) and some plantings are annotated as 1941 and 1942. The second and last major acquisition of land on Clunes Forest occurred in 1955, also from Locheil Estate, and was located in several small areas on both sides of Loch Arkaig. See Loch Arkaig maps in Picture Nos 5774 and 5775.
The links below lead to the large map image and also the PDF which shows the Forest areas in more detail.
Download Large Version (5.8MB)
Groups: Maps of Forest and Woodland Areas