International Tree Foundation’s founder, environmentalist, Richard St Barbe Baker, was ahead of his time in advocating for trees and the natural world. He practiced permaculture and agroecology before they were officially invented and warned of the horrific impact of deforestation before the science caught up.

Although not as well known as modern environmentalist like Attenborough, St Barbe left a lasting legacy. Some estimates suggest his influence has led to the planting of over 25 billion trees worldwide. Numbers on that scale are hard to verify, but what we do know is, he impacted the lives of countless people, inspiring them to plant, promote and protect trees.

Many of ITF’s supporters today were inspired to join us after meeting St Barbe in person. Some have been generously planting trees with us for 50 years, such was the deep impact of our founder.

As part of our centenary celebrations, we’ve been asking for memories of St Barbe. Here are just a few.

I knew then that I wanted to become a forester

“I was at Dean Close school from 1943 to 1947 and Richard St Barbe Baker came back as an Old Boy to lecture to the school in about 1945. Then he came again maybe a year later and I knew then that I wanted to become a forester. This was reinforced when I attended a forestry course that he ran for a group of us from school, with his wife in Dorset.
“I went up to Oxford for 4 years to read Forestry. I joined the Forestry Commission in 1953 and stayed with them until 1989. My career was straightforward for about 10 years in charge of South Lakes district planting several hundred acres a year of spruce and larch mainly.
“After this I concentrated on developing forests for public recreation and became first head of the Design Branch in HQ. My last job was second in command of South West England when planting new woods whilst planning recreation for the public over the whole estate.
Martin

Plaque commemorating a tree planted at Truro Cathedral

A Man of the Trees

“St Barbe came and stayed at our house in summer 1981. He stayed about 3 days, and planted a tree in South Park Macclesfield, which was given a plaque at the time. I used to have a photograph of him planting the tree with the Mayor of Macclesfield, and the youngest member of our Bahá’i Community.”
Melville

A profound effect on my life

“My father had a small farm and as a schoolboy when I was not helping him, I worked on a local forestry nursery and started raising young trees myself. Then one day I purchased a book called ‘The Dance of the Trees’ by Richard St Barbe Baker and from then on, St Barbe had a profound effect on my life. In 1972, he visited my wholesale tree nursery and selected 50 standard Zelkova trees which were given to the forestry commission to celebrate their 1st 50 years and so the story starts.”
Andrew

He was full of plans

“We heard Richard St. Barbe Baker was coming to our area and I had just started working at Sheffield Polytechnic (1974). I decided to organise a public meeting about trees and aspects of St. Barbe Baker’s Bahá’í life, with him as the keynote speaker. I knew he was an important person, but didn’t realise just how influential he was.
“He had founded the society Men of the Trees, now the International Tree Foundation. By then he was an old man in his eighties. I remember he impressed me because he was so thoughtful and helpful. He had even brought his inner sleeping bag, so that we wouldn’t have to change the bed linen. He was full of plans.
“Shortly after he arrived, he became ill, and was rushed off to hospital. At one point he thought he was dying. Consequently, he gave me his wristwatch. He thought that was it, but next time I visited him he asked for it back. He’d had a recovery. I was very happy to return it and he lived on for many years.
“I remember him sitting up in bed, shortly after his operation, writing letters to people all over the world when he should have been resting. The staff were staggered by all the mail arriving for him from Australia, Israel and Africa, He was in hospital for about three or four weeks, and then when he went for convalescence in Buxton, we went to see him there.
“Once when he came for a check-up he bought lots and lots of flowers for the staff at the hospital. They all gathered round him as he had obviously become very special to them. It was interesting comparing the way they treated him the day he was taken into hospital, and the way they felt about him by the time he had finished his stay.”
Philip

Did you meet St Barbe or attend one of his events? Did he inspire you to persue a whole new career in ecology? We’d love to hear your stories.

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