Salen Forest areas – Sunart Forest – Strontian Forest District
The map was recovered from shed at Newton that acted as a storage area for Forest Research who used the maps to locate forest and tree experiments in the field.
This area in some ways was the heart of the original Sunart Forest with its areas stretching as far west as Glencripesdale across Loch Sunart, east as far as Glen Tarbert and north up to Roshven. The forest office was located in its early and later days on the northern end of Compartment No 189 on the edge of the public road (close to the SSSI annotation). The three storey foresters house, Duncraig, was located 200m further north on the public road junction to Kilchoan above Salen Hotel and in a prime B&B spot. The names of the foresters who occupied the house from its early days in the 1950s are not recorded but it is likely that J C Watson was one of the first. In 1957 J MacKenzie followed on as the Head Forester assisted by Assistant Foresters Frank Cameron and A MacInnes but they were replaced in 1959 by J MacLeod at Forester Grade. It seems that J MacKenzie may have been in charge of Glenhurich and Glencripesdale in one of the enlarged administrative areas set in place at this time around the country but a structure that did not really work out that well. By 1961 J MacKenzie was in charge of Glenhurich and J (John) MacLeod took over Sunart and Glencripesale Forests assisted by Davy Coutts (Assistant Forester). By 1967 John MacLeod was promoted to Head Forester and afterwards assisted by Frank Thom, Donald Beaton and Hugh Milner in successive short periods of duty there. In 1972 John retired and Arkle Fraser was appointed as Chief Forester of the enlarged combined forest forests of Morven, Glenhurich and Sunart (Sunart Forest) with office still located at Salen. His team included Donald MacIntosh (lived in forester’s house in Strontian) as Head Forester for Glenhurich, Tom MacGregor Head Forester for Fiunary plus one forester (name?) and Norman Davidson as Forester based in Salen.
Arkle was followed by Bill Hunter about 1977 when shortly afterwards the Chief Forester’s House and Office moved to new builds located in Strontian. Shortly afterwards the house of Duncraig was sold and the Salen office turned into a house for Norman Davidson and family but then also sold on at some point in the 1980s.
The area covered by Compartment numbers 188 and 189 located below the single track public road to Strontian was referred to as Sailean nan Cuileag (Bay of the Flies). As with many of the coastal areas here a great deal of effort by the local forest team was spent on clearing the oak and native woodland to plant more productive conifers in the mid 1950s.
Much of the early planted conifer area was felled as part of the Atlantic Oakwood project in the early 2000s, if not before, and a forest car park and walk upgraded and improved that led down to the secluded bay. Further west in Compartment 189 which had never been cleared or planted with conifers, a circular forest walk to the high point at An Cnap was constructed in 1978/79 from the forest office car park. A walk was also laid out opposite the Forest Office and around the little lochan (Lochan Dunaich) but was only fully upgraded following the Atlantic Oakwood project work which also provided another car park within the forest area on the timber extraction road. A large shelter meeting point and composting toilets were also constructed at this time by the project. The Lochan has a name and dark portent referring to a mythical water horse that tempted children onto its back only to take them deep down underwater!
The area covered by Compartments 190-192 (often referred to as the cattle pens forest area due to the proximity of the traditional sale yard for animals located close by on the edge of Salen) was on land acquired from Shielbridge Estate in 1967 (approx 150ha). This was only planted up in the very early 1970s with conifers and on mainly bare hill land except for the part next to the public road from Acharacle which had quite a high stocking of natural broadleaves. Again this broadleaved area was felled as part of the Sunart Oakwood Project.
Moving on down the loch westwards the next forest area was known as Camastorsa Wood which again was mainly open hill land but had a substantial lower fringe of natural broadleaves that were partially cleared prior to the initial conifer planting in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The bottom fence ran above the top side of the public single track road (to Kilchoan) and the substantial area from this fence to the sea edge was well stocked with natural broadleaves which were left to grow on and in time incorporated into the Sunart Oakwood Project. Readers may note the significantly different planting year of the conifer tree crop in most of Compartment 195, all of 196 and part 197 with some nicely curved lines showing the boundary between the original plantings in the early 1960s and later plantings in 1975 to 1981. In 1972 a garden rubbish fire at a house in Salen got out of hand and spread up the gap between the Cattle Pen wood and Camastorsa Wood and out onto the hill. There followed a change of wind and it turned the fire causing it to blow down into the forest destroying over 60ha of trees. It took many years to successfully replant the area as the forest was full of roe deer that welcomed the fresh green growth on their patch and the additional salad of freshly planted conifers.
In between Compartments 194 and 195 runs a small burn. At the bottom where the burn heading for the sea shore crosses the fence and the public road, slightly to the north east below the road, there is a small conifer group mark. This spot was the site for a modest sized caravan used as the accommodation for a succession of single foresters based at Sunart Forest. It had a little coal fire, a fold away bed, a small kitchen, Calor gas cooker, no running water and a dry toilet. Winter frosts ensured that sleepers tucked themselves well in and carefully removed the covers frozen to the damp walls in the morning. Windows left open on a calm summer evening were an open invitation to thousands of uninvited blood hungry biting guests. However the view across to Ben Resipol and across Loch Sunart to the Glencripesdale side was spectacular. At very low tides horse mussels and scallops were accessible and off the rocks mackerel could be directed to a waiting pan. Donald Beaton was the first forester in the caravan, followed by Hugh Milner then Norman Davidson in spring 1974. Shortly after running water was installed – just an alkythene pipe from the burn to a tap in the sink. The caravan was closed down in 1977 following marriage and access to a building with modern facilities – the former forest office in Salen! It so happened that a gale destroyed the caravan just as it was being moved from its site location for sale or disposal at this time.
The little area of land on the extreme left of the map and annotated as Compartment 200 was locally called Dun Ghallain. It was a rough rocky and steep piece of land that led down to an ancient Dun on an isolated promontory. Old Scots pine trees and birch covered some of the area but not planted by the Forestry Commission. In the 1980s Strontian Forest District staff fenced off the area carried out some native planting and constructed a walk down leading down towards the ancient Dun site.
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Groups: Maps of Forest and Woodland Areas, Sunart Ardgour and Morven