Men from Knoydart
If you have never heard of it, get your road atlas out and look for Inverie, Knoydart. To make it a bit easier, look for the fishing port of Mallaig, approximately 30 miles west of Fort William, and then run your finger north across the Atlantic for a further 6 miles. As you will see, there are no roads in or out – Inverie is the most remote location on the British mainland! The peninsula of Knoydart was one of the first land areas in the country to be ‘community owned’ when the estate was purchased by the Knoydart Foundation in 1999.

The area hit the headlines in 1948 when, returning from WW2, the famous ‘Seven Men of Knoydart’ became legendary heroes to the cause of crofting rights, as well as to many of the Scottish working class, by staking out and claiming as their own 65 acres of improved and 10000 acres of hill ground on the estate then owned by Lord Brocket. This takeover bid was ill fated, and Lord Brocket’s legal team, and a climb down by the government at the time, saw the men evicted. However, their spirit carried on with renewed vigour.

After the purchase of the peninsula, the Knoydart Forest Trust (KFT) was established to manage and expand the woodland area, which extends to some 500 hectares of mainly coniferous plantations. With head community forester Grant Holroyd in place, the KFT successfully completed woodland surveys, established grant income streams from relevant government agencies, and recruited forest craftsmen trainees, forming a manual squad which continues to this day. With the help of Highland-based consultant Ian Maclennan, a ‘longterm woodland management plan’ was drafted. After extensive consultation (over 45 respondents highlighting issues such as landscape, access, nesting herons and proximity to community), this document was revised by Grant Holroyd to become a Forestry Commission approved ‘Forest Plan’ which, as with most larger woodlands, became the benchmark planning tool. The plan identified approximately 28 hectares of clearfell in the initial phase. This was primarily Sitka spruce of yield class 18 and above, an excellent programme of clean west coast timber – no problem then, until you remember the location! With anticipated high working/ extraction/shipping costs and timber markets remaining depressed, nothing happened until 2005, when KFT engaged Scottish Woodlands to carry out a review of harvesting and marketing opportunities.

This concluded with several positive outcomes, and the relationship developed, with Scottish Woodlands being appointed ‘harvesting partner’. Throughout 2006 harvesting plans were developed, a lot of meetings held, heads were scratched, and a great deal of coffee consumed. A breakthrough was reached when Highland Regional Council agreed to the newly completed pier at Inverie being utilised by 1400- tonne capacity timber vessels. This may not sound too onerous, untilyou consider that the biggest vessels into Inverie to date had been fishing coasters and the daily 30-person ferry from Mallaig! Scottish Woodlands enlisted John Scott (JST Ltd (Ayr)) as haulage and handling contractors and Norman Johnston (Golspie) as main harvesting contractor. The initial customary pre-operational site/pricing visits were a mixture of adventure and disbelief, especially the speedy early rigid inflatable boat journeys in and out of Inverie.

However, eventually horsepower and excitement, mixed with some excellent Sitka spruce, were enough to tempt everyone on board with the project. With timber being hauled past the small village school and along the village frontage, as well as other pier issues to resolve, Scottish Woodlands completed a comprehensive health and safety audit, with director Rob Shaw visiting the site to ensure all was in order. In addition, several community meetings to explain how works would be undertaken were held. Eventually a start date of mid February 07 was set, with Easter (and the influx of tourists/visitors) being the completion deadline. Grant Holroyd and Scottish Woodlands Harvesting Manager Neil Stoddart set about organising the logistics of getting plant, equipment and men onto the peninsula.

A holiday cottage in Inverie, complete with a cook, was rented for the duration of the operation, and this proved invaluable to the team who worked steady 14-hour plus shifts on a 10-day on 4-off system. The ferry that brings supplies as well as locals to and from Inverie had never carried so many bottles of Coke! With a target tonnage to get to roadside and the JST squad having to build a 400m link road to the pier prior to the initial shipment, the first few weeks of operations were frantic. In the forest the harvester men Ally Smith and Louis Johnston were finding steep ground, Scott Kelman in the 1710D forwarder was encountering some very soft ground, and JST works manager Brian McColm was hitting rocky ground whilst trying to build roads. All were under pressure from day one, but the reliability of both the well maintained machines, and, more importantly, the men operating them, saw the works go reasonably to plan.











JST anchorman Brian McColm drove on and reversed off over 440 trailer loads and loaded all 8000 tonnes at Inverie, without any damage to the new pier!

Neil Stoddart also felt the heat as the first vessel, the MV Fingal, approached Knoydart on a Saturday morning: “Inverie literally doesn’t feature on the radar as far as shipping ports are concerned, and the Russian captain was having last minute jitters re water depth etc. I was 90 miles away at home at the time, but managed to email him a Bathometric seabed survey and persuade him in pidgin Russian that it would be OK. If he had turned away or hit problems it would have raised a few eyebrows – not least with us having 4000 tonnes cut in the forest at that point!” But all went well, and even though every 17-tonne tractor-load had to be hauled from roadside and reversed on and off the pier (no stacking space) the Fingal cargo and another three log shipments were safely loaded and dispatched.

The operation concluded with an even bigger 1800-tonne Scotline vessel docking, prior to taking the pulpwood to Scandinavia. As the back of the operation was broken, the most remote pub in the Britain, the ‘Old Forge’ in Inverie, (and well worth a visit) did indeed receive a number of visits! In total some 8000 tonnes were felled, extracted, hauled and loaded within a 9-week period. It was very tough going at times but it is testament to all involved, from the community at Knoydart as a whole to the highly professional harvesting team, that the operation was a success.

Whilst some of the operators feel they could have written a book about their time on Knoydart, the primary schoolchildren went one better, recording the entire operation and writing the soundtrack to the award-winning documentary DVD Munchatreeaforest (available for £6.50 including p&p from forest@knoydart.org).

The final tally of kit, all delivered by landing craft
2 x 270hp Case tractors c/w 2 timber trailers and 1 dump trailer
1 x 22t Daewoo excavator c/w breaker
1 x 16t JCB in forest loader
1 x Volvo 6-wheeler truck-mounted independent pier loader
2 x Timberjack 2628 harvesters
1 x John Deere 1710 forwarder
1 x service van
1 x Massey Ferguson 2640 c/w trailed diesel bowser

(Left) Brian McColm works at the link road – finished on a Saturday, 1400 tonnes down it on the Sunday! (Right) Loading trailers in the forest with JCB lift-cab loader.