On 17 October 2000 a small ceremony was held to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Black Wood being designated as a Forest Reserve. The event was marked by the installation of a plaque to acknowledge the key rôle played by Gunnar Godwin in bringing this about and ensuring the future of this historic ancient Caledonian pinewood. Gunnar had a special affinity with the Black Wood; it was one of his very favourite places.Those invited included many of Gunnar's old friends and colleagues. Although during quite a dreich period, the weather that day was calm and sunny and the wood was full of the glorious colours of Autumn. The event was very cordial and will be long remembered by all. Special thanks are due to Charles Taylor, Forest Enterprise District Manager, and his colleagues, for organising the event and for ensuring that it went so well.
The party strolled up to the high point in the Wood, stopping at various points on the way to discuss current issues identified in the Management Plan (topics included the area of minimal intervention, long-term monitoring, deer management) and to reflect on developments in the 25 years since the first long-term plan was created. After a dram and a breather, Gunnar's longest-standing forestry friend John Davies gave an address (which he said could easily have run to two or three times the length), reproduced below from his notes, and the plaque was unveiled beside an ancient pine tree. The party then retired to Kinloch Rannoch for a very agreeable lunch.
I probably knew Gunnar Godwin before anyone else here (except his son Jon!) In February 1950 I arrived in Aberystwyth to take up my appointment as an acquisition officer on the staff of the Commission.I was lonely, very poor and found the whole set up and my job deeply disspiriting. But Gunnar befriended me and shared his tiny office with me. He was a very shy man then but our friendship grew steadily and I have often noticed how deep friendships often are with shy people. We became mutual godparents and I stayed with him in Llandrindod, Shrewsbury, Edinburgh and at Lethendy and he with us at our various homes.
I cannot express my gratitude to the organisers of this event for being allowed to make this address to honour an old friend and a dear friend of many of us. A wise and talented forester with a strong affection for plants and animals and their place in the forest. He had a holistic view of the Creation. He will be greatly touched to know that we wanted to create a memorial to him and more than pleased that it should be here in his much loved Blackwood. He, like us, would want to thank the Forestry Commission for making this whole occasion possible.
We would specially like to welcome Gunnar's son Jon, who is with us today and his brother Peter and who represent Gunnar's two granddaughters and Gunnar's sister, Meg in Denmark.
Half Icelandic and half Danish, he came to feel at home in Scotland, though was always able to look at our prejudices with humour and some detachment. A Danish uncle attracted him to forestry and a Scottish family doctor suggested Edinburgh University where he graduated in 1935. Later he joined the Forestry Commission where he continued until he retired in 1975.
In 1973, Gunnar came north from York to take over the then East Scotland Conservancy. Some people were surprised at his transfer for what would only be a 2½ year period. But he was keen to come back to Scotland for which he had developed great affection and links starting in his student days. He was deeply interested in the Scottish countryside and understood before many of his contemporaries, the need to bring conservation and use of the countryside together and to find a balance between the two.
He took over East Scotland with enthusiasm to manage the woods and forests well and optimise timber production. It was with special pleasure that he became responsible for the Blackwood. He said in an interview that the Blackwood was a fantastic place and to be responsible for it was a great privilege.
For some time prior to '73, a number of people who were interested in forestry and nature conservation - several of whom are here today - had become increasingly concerned over the future management of the Blackwood. Senior FC people in East Scotland had not been too sympathetic to it and indeed at one time there were fears that it might be cut down. There was a need for the wood to be safeguarded for the long term for this to be formalised and not depend on the short term goodwill of local managers - when that existed!
Once Gunnar was in post, these thoughts were put to him. He at once recognised both the importance of the Blackwood and the need for a new special arrangement, and so with the co-operation of the Nature Conservancy Council, led by the late Dr Morton Boyd - a splendid man - and the support of the late Dr Joe Eggeling, the management agreement for the long term management and conservation of the Blackwood was signed in '75 by Gunnar and Morton Boyd, surrounded by a group of exultant well wishers several of whom are here today. Since then much has gone forward building on the inspiration and leadership which Gunnar gave to the whole project and with enthusiastic work on the ground for example by the then Chief Forester, the late Pat Garrow - and it is good that Mrs Catherine Garrow is here today. He was a legend in his time.
Charlie Taylor and the local FC staff carry on the care of the Blackwood and Charlie has been telling us about this on our walk. Gunnar regarded him as a good and caring custodian of the wood and was pleased that he was happy to stay in the area. Ros Smith has played an important part in the conservation of the wood and we would like to pay tribute to her unfailing commitment and enthusiasm - something that Gunnar also recognised.
In looking back over the history of the wood, Gunnar believed that its care had always been better when in public ownership. He used to refer to the excellent management by the Commissioners for Forfeited Estates when it was removed from the Robertson family after the '45 Rising. They endeavoured to manage the wood and control felling, not always an easy task!
Later in the 19th century and the first part of the 20th, the Blackwood was once more in private ownership and suffered what Gunnar called negative management. The Forestry Commission acquired it in 1947 with a return to public ownership and in the long run, positive management. He recognised that the wood at earlier times had as he once put it "been messed about by man" and it therefore did not have the more natural spread of age classes, in particular young trees as can be seen at Glen Tannar and Glen Affric. He looked forward to the expansion envisaged in the management agreement from about 600 acres to 2000, when the present generation of sitka and lodgepole had been clearfelled.
Gunnar continued to visit the Blackwood after he retired to live at Lethendy near Methven. He always found it fascinating and was proud to have helped to safeguard it. One of the very last walks he took was along this path which we have come - so we follow his footsteps to what is now to become his tree.
[Link to brief autobiography of Gunnar Godwin]
[End of document, updated to 4 November 2000]