Imagine a human culture based on the interconnectedness of a forest

Recent scientific research has demonstrated that the trees in a forest are all connected underground via their roots and the network of fungal hyphae that intertwine around them. This not only allows an exchange of nutrients to take place between the trees and fungi as part of their mutually-beneficial symbiotic relationship, but it also enables the older, more mature trees to support the growth of young trees and recentlygerminated seedlings by passing nutrients to them. This reflects, in arboreal terms, what we experience in our human lives - that we can all benefit from, and help to move forward, the vision and work of those who have preceded us.

As St Barbe said, “The simple act of planting a tree, in itself a practical deed, is also the symbol of a farreaching ideal which is creative in the realm of the spirit, and in turn reacts upon society, encouraging all to work for the future well-being of humanity rather than for immediate gain.”

I’ve had a powerful personal experience of this as a result of the two meetings I had with Richard St Barbe Baker, the founder of Men of the Trees (as the International Tree Foundation was originally known), towards the end of his life. I had joined the Findhorn Community in northeast Scotland in 1978, and he made two visits there, in 1979 and 1981, during both of which I was asked to host him for part of his stay. I already had a strong personal interest in trees, and those meetings with him provided the opportunity for me to be immersed in, and soak up, some of his vision, enthusiasm and love for trees. During his 1981 visit he gave a keynote lecture as the climax of a week in celebration of trees that the community had organised. As an introduction to it, I presented a short audio-visual featuring my photographs of trees and forests from both the local area and other countries. When he got up to speak, St Barbe spent the first few minutes appreciating the slide show and stated that there was a need for a calendar that featured beautiful images of trees and promoted their importance to the world. He said that the Men of the Trees had formerly published an annual tree calendar, but no longer did so, and suggested that I should step into the breach and publish one!

Thus an idea was seeded, and in 1983 I began publishing the Findhorn Nature Calendar, complemented from 1988 onwards by the Trees for Life Calendar, which featured photographs of trees and forests from all over the world, together with information about any threats they faced, contact details for the organisations working to protect them, and inspiring quotes from people who were touched by trees (including St Barbe himself). Sales of the calendar provided the funding for the first major work of the Trees for Life project that I had launched in 1986 to help restore Scotland’s Caledonian Forest, when we fenced off 50 hectares of land in Glen Affric in 1990 to exclude deer and thereby enable the ancient forest to regenerate naturally. Over the following years and decades Trees for Life developed into a substantial charity in its own right, carrying out further significant restoration work for the Caledonian Forest in both Glen Affric and other nearby glens, establishing its own native tree nursery, initiating a programme of volunteer weeks through which thousands of people joined its work of tree planting, and, in 2008, taking on ownership of the 4,000 hectare Dundreggan Estate in Glen Moriston as its flagship project for forest restoration. Along the way we received a number of awards for our work and inspired many people and other initiatives.

A passion for trees, and inspired positive action for their protection and restoration, is infectious and very clearly needed in our world today.

Just as I was inspired by St Barbe, so too has my work acted as an inspiration for others. One man who began volunteering with Trees for Life in 1991 and whom we subsequently trained up to lead our volunteer weeks, went on to co-found Moor Trees, a successful and thriving charity that is working to restore native woodland around Dartmoor. Similarly, a young woman who volunteered with us, and then later took on the coordination of our volunteer programmes, went on to found Wild Things, a charity based in the Findhorn area that organises programmes and training to enable children and young people to connect deeply with nature. The positive work of those two individuals, though their respective charities, has similarly gone on to touch many others.

Trees in a forest are all connected underground via their roots and the network of fungal hyphae that intertwine around them.

A passion for trees, and inspired positive action for their protection and restoration, is infectious and very clearly needed in our world today. At this time of rampant environmental destruction, driven by unconstrained consumerism and a disregard for its impacts on the planet, we need a new model for human society. We need to replace competition and capitalism with something different – care for nature, a recognition of our dependence on (and symbiosis with) a healthy planet, and a large-scale (but locally implemented) programme of ecological restoration of native forests and all other ecosystems. This will involve integrating the underlying principles of how a forest functions, in terms of symbiosis, networking and mutual support for the highest good of all its species, into all aspects of our lives and culture. As St Barbe said, “The simple act of planting a tree, in itself a practical deed, is also the symbol of a far-reaching ideal which is creative in the realm of the spirit, and in turn reacts upon society, encouraging all to work for the future wellbeing of humanity rather than for immediate gain.”

Alan Watson Featherstone is a Scottish ecologist, natural history photographer, inspirational speaker and the founder of the conservation charity Trees for Life.