Delamere Forest The Forestry Commission, which was established in 1919, took over the management of Delamere Forest in 1924; the land was managed for timber production. Its management area occupies 16 percent of the former medieval forests. Since 1968, the Forestry Commission has worked with successive local authorities (now Cheshire West and Chester) to promote recreational usage of the area. Blakemere Moss was drained in around 1815, supposedly by prisoners from the Napoleonic Wars. During the 19th century, it was unsuccessfully planted with oak, and later with Scots pine. The Forestry Commission planted the moss with pine and western hemlock during the
Hugh Cholmondeley, 3rd Baron Delamere advantage to the world." Richard Meinertzhagen (himself a complex figure of Africa's colonial days) quoted Delamere as proclaiming, “I am going to prove to you all that this is a white man's country.” These views held great sway among the settlers because Delamere was their undisputed, if unofficial, leader and, in some measure, spokesman for 30 years. He was a member of the Legislative Council, the Executive Council, and, in 1907, became President of the Colonists’ Association. In 1921 he established the Reform Party. Errol Trzebinski, who wrote a number of books on Kenya's colonial elite, wrote of him: “Delamere