Isabella Tree

{{Infobox person

| name = Isabella Tree

| image =

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1964}}

| birth_place =

| death_date =

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| mother = Lady Anne Tree

| relatives = Edward Cavendish (grandfather)
Mary Gascoyne-Cecil (grandmother)
Ronald Tree (grandfather)
Nancy Lancaster (grandmother)

| education = University of London

| occupation = Conservationist, writer

| spouse = Charles Burrell

| children = 2

| website = {{URL|https://isabellatree.com}}

}}

Isabella Tree, Lady Burrell (born 1964){{Cite web |title=Isabella Tree |url=https://thegentlewoman.co.uk/library/isabella-tree |access-date=2025-01-13 |website=thegentlewoman.co.uk |language=en}} is a British author and conservationist. She is author of the Richard Jefferies Society Literature Award-winning book Wilding: the return of nature to a British farm that describes the creation of Knepp Wildland, the first large-scale rewilding project in lowland England. The {{convert|3500|acre|ha|abbr=off|adj=on}} wildland project was created in the grounds of Knepp Castle, the ancestral home of her husband, Sir Charles Burrell, a landowner and conservationist.

Biography

Tree attended Millfield School.{{cite web |title=Notable Alumni |url=https://www.millfieldschool.com/discover-brilliance/old-millfieldians/notable-alumni |website=Millfield School |access-date=26 October 2022}} She was adopted by an aristocratic British family as a baby. She read Classics, following the advice of author Iris Murdoch and went to the University of London.{{Cite web |last=Blanchard |first=Tamsin |title=Isabella Tree |url=https://thegentlewoman.co.uk/library/isabella-tree |access-date=2023-10-25 |website=thegentlewoman.co.uk |language=en}}

From 1993 to 1995, Tree was a travel correspondent at the Evening Standard.{{cite web|url=https://rolfpotts.com/isabella-tree/|title=Isabella Tree|website=rolfpotts.com|date=November 2003 |accessdate=26 January 2020}} In 1999 she was Overall Winner of the Travelex Travel Writers' Awards for a feature on Nepal's Kumaris, or "Living Goddesses" – "High and Mighty" – for the Sunday Times.{{cite web |title=Biography |url=http://isabellatree.com/biography/ |website=isabellatree.com |accessdate=16 September 2016}} She has written articles for The Guardian{{cite web |title=Isabella Tree |url=https://www.theguardian.com/profile/isabella-tree |publisher=The Guardian |access-date=2 April 2025}} and National Geographic Magazine.{{cite web |title=Isabella Tree |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/search?q=Isabella%20Tree&location=srp&type=manual |publisher=National Geographic Magazine |access-date=2 April 2025}}

Tree is married to Sir Charles Burrell and lives at Knepp Castle in West Sussex.{{cite web |title=Isabella Tree |url=https://www.isabellatree.com/ |website=www.isabellatree.com/ |access-date=2 April 2025}}

Books

{{cite book |title=Islands in the Clouds: Travels in the Highlands of New Guinea |year=1996 |isbn=9780864423696 |last=Tree |first=Isabella |publisher=Lonely Planet Publications |ref=none}}
{{cite book |author-mask=–––––|title=Sliced Iguana |year=2001 |isbn=1845114965 |last=Tree |first=Isabella |publisher=Bloomsbury USA |ref=none}}
{{cite book |author-mask=–––––|title=The Bird Man: The Extraordinary Story of John Gould |year=2004 |isbn=071262158X |last=Tree |first=Isabella |publisher=Barrie & Jenkins |ref=none}}
{{cite book |author-mask=–––––|title=The Living Goddess |year=2014 |publisher= Eland Publishing |last=Tree |first=Isabella |isbn=978-0143422549 |ref=none}}
{{cite book |author-mask=–––––|title=Wilding: the return of nature to a British farm |year=2018 |isbn=9781509805105 |last=Tree |first=Isabella |publisher=Pan Macmillan |ref=none}}
{{cite book |author-mask=–––––|title=Second Nature |year=2020 |isbn=9781909889361 |last=Tree |first=Isabella |publisher=Granta |ref=none}}
{{cite book |author-mask=–––––|title=When We Went Wild |year=2021 |isbn=9780711262850 |last=Tree |first=Isabella |publisher=Ivy Kids |ref=none}}
{{cite book |author-mask=–––––|title=When The Storks Came Home |year=2022 |isbn=9780711272798 |last=Tree |first=Isabella |publisher=Ivy Kids Eco |ref=none}}
{{cite book |author-mask=–––––|title=The Book of Wilding: A Practical Guide to Rewilding Big and Small |year=2023 |isbn=9781526659293 |last=Tree |first=Isabella |publisher=Bloomsbury |ref=none}}
{{cite book |author-mask=–––––|title=Wilding: How to Bring Wildlife Back, The Illustrated Guide for Children |year=2024 |isbn= |last=Tree |first=Isabella |publisher= |ref=none}}

Awards

1996: Shortlisted for the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award (Islands in the Clouds){{cite web |title=Want to meet some wild, adventurous and inspiring women? |url=https://www.chiplitfest.com/blog/want-to-meet-some-wild-adventurous-and-inspiring-women |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923123618/https://www.chiplitfest.com/blog/want-to-meet-some-wild-adventurous-and-inspiring-women |archive-date=23 September 2020 |work=Chipping Norton Literature Festival}}
1999: Overall winner of the Travelex Travel Writer Awards{{cite book |last=Mayes |first=Frances |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v_PXfdpd8PIC&pg=PA347 |title=The Best American Travel Writing 2002 |author2=Jason Wilson |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |year=2002 |isbn=0-618-11880-2 |pages=347–}}
2018: Richard Jefferies Society Literature Award (Wilding){{cite web |url=http://www.richardjefferiessociety.org/2019/05/richard-jefferies-society-white-horse.html |title=Richard Jefferies Society & White Horse Bookshop Literature Prize 2018}}
2018: One of the top ten science books – Smithsonian Magazine (Wilding) {{cite web |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/ten-best-science-books-2018-180970954/ |title=Ten Best Science Books 2018 |work=Smithsonian Magazine}}
2019: Shortlisted for Wainwright Prize (Wilding){{cite web |title=Wilding |url=https://wainwrightprize.com/wilding/ |work=Wainwright Prize}}
2020: Awarded the CIEEM (Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management) Medal{{Cite web |date=September 2020 |title=CIEEM Medal Winners 2020 – John Hopkins & Isabella Tree |url=http://cieem.net/cieem-medal-winners-2020/ |access-date=2021-08-13}}
2021: Royal Geographical Society's Ness Award{{Cite web |title=Royal Geographical Society – 2021 Awards |url=https://www.rgs.org/about/medals-award/2021-awards/ |access-date=2021-08-13 |website=www.rgs.org}}
2023: Zoological Society of London Silver Medal (Wilding){{cite web |title=Prestigious awards honour stars of conservation science | ZSL |url=https://www.zsl.org/news-and-events/news/outstanding-contributions-science-and-conservation-recognised-zsl-awards}}
2024: Honorary Doctor of Science, University of Sussex{{cite web |last1=Ellis |first1=Lauren |title=Knepp Estate’s founder Isabella Tree awarded Honorary Doctorate at University of Sussex summer graduation |url=https://www.sussex.ac.uk/broadcast/read/65109 |publisher=University of Sussex |date=24 July 2024}}