author
Rafael Puig y Valls
Best known for championing forests long before environmentalism became a common cause, he helped popularize the Fiesta del Árbol in Catalonia. His writing and public work linked care for the land with civic responsibility and everyday life.
2 Audiobooks
About the author
Born in Tarragona in 1845, Rafael Puig y Valls was a Spanish forestry engineer who devoted much of his career to the protection and management of woodland landscapes. He trained as an engineer of forests and went on to work in forest administration, becoming an influential voice on how trees and woodland conservation mattered to society.
He is especially remembered as a driving force behind the Fiesta del Árbol in Catalonia, an initiative that encouraged public tree planting and broader awareness of the value of forests. Through articles, speeches, and practical advocacy, he helped bring environmental concerns into public conversation at a time when that idea was still unusual.
Puig y Valls also held an important place in Catalan scientific life, including service as president of the Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts of Barcelona during two different periods. He died in Tarragona in 1920, and his legacy lives on in the history of forestry, conservation, and civic environmental education in Spain.