Dr. Richard St. Barbe Baker, O.B.E.
(1889-1982)
He was affectionately known as the 'Man of the Trees.' Although born in England, Richard St. Barbe Baker - the world-renowned forester had a long association with Saskatchewan.
He came to Saskatoon as a youth in 1908 with the intention of homesteading at Beaver Creek. One of the first students at the University of Saskatchewan, he became a lifelong friend of the Rt. Hon. John G. Diefenbaker, who Baker had initiated as a freshman. He also wrote for the Saskatoon Star, worked as a cowboy and traveled to small towns as a student minister. As a lumberjack at Big River, he awoke to the need to conserve forests and plant trees. Following service in the First World War, he studied forestry at Cambridge and went on to become a conservator of forests in Nigeria and Kenya.
Baker circled the globe many times to promote tree-planting and often returned to Saskatoon to visit his Alma Mater, from which he received an honorary doctorate in 1971, with Chancellor Diefenbaker presiding. On a final world tour at the age of 91, despite being wheelchair bound, he planted his last tree near the Diefenbaker Centre. He died a few days later and is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery.
Richard St. Barbe Baker was well ahead of his time in advocating sustainable forestry, both as a forester and an environmental activist. He also wrote more than 30 books on trees. He correctly predicted the global impacts of deforestation decades before the notion was widely accepted.
Baker's extraordinary network of contacts included Heads of State, leaders of thought, visionaries, eminent scientists, and ordinary people everywhere who loved trees. He had a particular affinity with indigenous people, especially in Africa, where he was the first white man inducted into the secret society of Kikuyu Elders. He often attributed his early appreciation for ecology to his discussions with First Nations elders while living near Saskatoon.
He started what has been called the first broadly based international environmental organization-The Men of The Trees-in the 1920s. It was at one time active in 108 nations. In the 1930s, he was instrumental in the campaign to save California's Redwoods and in launching of the Civilian Conservation Corps through his friendship with President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In his 60s, Baker crossed the Sahara on a groundbreaking ecological survey. At the age of 74, he traveled the length of New Zealand (more than 1500 kilometres) on horseback, stopping at schools to promote tree planting. In his 80s, he took up the study of Chinese, intending to cross the Gobi Desert on a Mongolian pony (he never obtained permission). However, in his 90s, he did tour China to promote tree planting.
His greatest obsession was the idea of reforesting the Sahara by way of a military-style campaign requiring an army of 25 million tree planters. Twice he traveled around this desert, visiting every Saharan leader to promote the project.
Many of Baker's ideas and projects, that seemed outlandish when they were proposed, had become widely appreciated by the time of his death. Today, he is recognized as a pioneer of the global environmental movement. In Saskatoon, a reforestation park has been named in his honour.
For more information visit http://www.manofthetrees.org.