Duisky Plantation – Locheil side, Lochaber 1990s
The images and summary text were compiled by Tom McLellan, forester from Taynuilt, Argyll.
Duisky was purchased from the Forestry Commission by Tilhill Forestry, West Highland District as a Timber Property Purchase ( TPP ), whereby the district carried out the harvesting and marketing of the standing timber and then replanted the area before selling off the property.
Through the 1990s TPPs made a useful contribution to district work programmes, taking the opportunity of purchasing outlying or small forest areas being sold by the Forestry Commission at that time.
At Duisky some 1,700 metres of forest road access had to be first constructed in order to give access to harvest the standing timber. This was built by the late Kenny Fraser from Spean Bridge.
The timber was felled by Ferguson Harvesting, a division of Ferguson Haulage from Spean
Bridge, managed by the late 'Archie' Ferguson with his son Jackie. They used an 'Akerman'
tracked excavator with a harvesting head. All trees were pre brashed by chainsaw to clear
the lower branches and allow the harvesting head to fit.
The Sitka spruce sawlogs were sold to BSW at Kilmallie, together with pallet wood and fencing posts from the Lodgepole pine. The small round wood was sold to Norboard in Inverness who at the time were extremely 'fussy' about the quality, with no sprags or branchwood being allowed and loads sometimes taken to Fergusons yard to be tidied up before heading north to Norbord. Due to the bridge height restriction where the Fort William to Mallaig railway crosses the road at the head of Loch Eil, the timber had to go onto flats without cranes with harvesting and road making machinery o? loaded and tracked under the bridge to be reloaded the other side.
Areas of conifers where growth had been checked were retained as long term retentions
and existing broadleaf trees comprising mainly birch, were retained and expanded by natural regeneration.
The restock area was then mounded and cross drained by Kenny Fraser before being replanted by a team from Fort William with 50-70cm Sitka spruce pre-dipped in
Alpha cypermethryn ( Forester ), with follow up top sprays of Forester in years one and two after planting.
Once the restocking was established the area was sold to the neighbouring Conaglen
Estate owned at the time by John Guthrie and managed by Raymond Henderson at
Bidwells, with both the sale of the timber and the property giving a net profit to Tilhill Forestry after the cost of restocking.
The forester from West Highland District overseeing this TPP was Phil Di-Duca, who provided the above information.
Phil further recalls the initial work by the Forestry Commission (Leanachan Forest) around 1962/63 when the ground was prepared for planting:
‘I recall that all the forestry blocks were originally ploughed by a young Alan Harrower working with his father? They were ploughed first leaving rides and roads built afterwards.
The abutments for the timber bridges were made of breeze type blocks made at the lime quarry at Torlundy and the centres washed out because of the lime content!’
Does anyone else remember Alan Harrower?
Please see the PDF link below for an over view of the current forest area.
Download Large Version (516kB)
Groups: Forestry Areas