Centre for History

Research Fellow - Social History of Forestry
mairi.stewart@uhi.ac.uk

Since joining the Centre in April 2006, Ms Stewart has worked on two ongoing Centre projects, a history of Highland sporting estates and an oral history of forestry. Prior to this she was Project Officer for the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Research Centre for Environmental History at the University of Stirling, where she took part in a four-year interdisciplinary programme under the theme of 'Waste and Wasteland'.  Ms Stewart had project management responsibilities for this programme and worked on three of the programme’s projects. In the mid-1990s, by which point she had spent more than ten years developing and managing environmental projects, Ms Stewart undertook an MPhil research degree under the supervision of Prof T. C. Smout at the University of St Andrews. Her thesis dealt with the utilisation and management of the semi-natural woodlands of Lochtayside, 1650-1850. She has since published in several environmental history media. Among her publications are two chapters in T. C. Smout (ed), People and Woods in Scotland: A History, (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2003). With Fiona Watson, she has also published Mar Lodge Estate: Its Woods and People, (Edinburgh: National Trust for Scotland, 2004). In September 2007, Ms Stewart gave a paper on woods as an element of cultural landscapes at an international Forest History Conference in Thessaloniki, Greece.  She is joint organiser of the Scottish Woodland History Discussion Group.

Research Interests:

Ms Stewart has been involved in range of environmental history projects. These include an interdisciplinary investigation of past uses of urban natural resources, working with soil scientists; an examination of the historic context to contemporary perceptions of the value of the British uplands; and a project focusing on transhumance in Spain and Scotland.  She has a special interest in woodland and forest history. 

Selected Publications:

Stewart, M J, Loch Tay Its Woods and Its People, A Woodland History of Lochtayside, (Aberfeldy, Scottish Native Woods, 2000)

Stewart, M J, ‘Using the Woods, 1600-1850 (1) The Community Resource and Using the Woods, 1600-1850’ (2) ‘Managing for Profit’, in People and Woods in  Scotland A History, ed. T. C. Smout, (Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 2003)

Stewart, M J, & Watson, F, Mar Lodge Estate, Its Woods and People, (Edinburgh, National Trust for Scotland, 2004)

Stewart, M J, & Watson, F, ‘Preserve of the few - used by all. Scotland’s woodland history 1500 - 1850’, Scottish Forestry, vol. 58, 4 (Winter 2004)

Sansum, P, Stewart, M J & Watson, F J, A Preliminary History of the Clyde Valley Woodlands, (commissioned technical report for SNH, published by Highland Birchwoods July 2005)

Stewart, M J, The Clyde valley woodlands - the place of the past in current management, AHRC Centre for Environmental History Short Report 5, (November 2005)

Sansum, P, Watson, F & Stewart, M J, A Preliminary History of Wood Pasture in the Fleet Valley, (commissioned report for Solway Heritage, March 2006)

Davidson, D A., Dercon, G, Stewart, M J and Watson F, ‘The legacy of past urban waste disposal on local soils’, Journal of Archaeological Sciences (2006)

Stewart, M J, ‘Smell of the rosin, noise of the saw’ The story of forestry in mid-Argyll in the 20th century, (Edinburgh Forestry Commission Scotland, 2007).

Stewart, M J, ‘The forest is a beautiful place to be’ The story of forestry in the Great Glen in the 20th century, (Edinburgh, Forestry Commission Scotland, 2008)

Hanley, N, Bergmann A, Colombo, S, Ready, R, Stewart, M J, & Watson, F, ‘ The impacts of knowledge of the past on preferences for future landscape change.’ Journal of Environmental Management. (in press)

Forthcoming:

Stewart, M J, ‘Does the past matter in Scottish woodlands?’, in Restoria: Renewing the Land, Recovering the Past, ed. M. Hall, , (submitted to Routledge).

Selected Conferences Attended:

IUFRO Research: Forest History Conference. ‘Woodland Cultures in Time and Space: tales from the past, messages for the future’: 3 - 7 September 2007, Thessaloniki, Greece'. Paper given: Title - ‘Using the past to inform the future of Scottish woods and forests’.

FACT GAP Conference. ‘Tools and techniques for pastoralism and wildlands’, 12 June 2007, University of Stirling University. Invited speaker. Title - Pastoralism in Scotland:  Lesson from the Past.

Scottish Woodland History Discussion Group Annual Conference, 26 October 2006, Battleby Conference Centre, Perth.  Invited speaker.  Joint Paper with Peter Quelch:  Title - Wood pasture in the Fleet Valley NSA: historical & field studies of selected wood pastures with thoughts on management.

"Restoring or Renaturing?" Workshop: Zurich, July 9-11, 2006.  Invited speaker.  Title:  ‘Scottish woodland restoration - does the past matter?’ (chapter for a publication in progress).

VIII Turku Methodological Conference VI Nordic Environmental History Conference September 15-17, 2005 Turku Finland.  Paper given.  Title:  ‘Of these our hills’:  an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the evolution of contemporary perceptions of the value of the British uplands’.

Core Forest Sites for a Forest Habitats Network Conference in New Lanark, May 2005.  Presented summary of our Clyde valley woodland history findings.

Royal Scottish Forestry Society 150th anniversary in Pitlochry, 5 November 2004.  Invited speaker.  Title -‘Preserve of the few, used by all - Scotland's woods and forests 1500-1850’.

Affiliations:

Joint organiser of the Scottish Woodland History Discussion Group and also joint organiser for the annual conference at Battleby conference centre.