Reginald Ernest Balch was born on December 29, 1894, in Sevenoaks, Kent, England.

He was a Canadian scientist, author, and photographer who received his education at Bedford School and Kingswood School in England. Balch initially received a university scholarship but decided to become a farmer instead. In 1913, he left England and became a cowboy in Canada. With the outbreak of World War I, he enlisted and served for three years in France with the Canadian Field Artillery. After the war, his interest in forest biology led him to enroll in the Ontario Agricultural College, from which he graduated in 1923 with a B.Sc. in Agriculture degree. He worked as a fire ranger and also assisted an American forest entomologist before graduating from Syracuse University's New York State College of Forestry with a M.Sc. degree in 1928. In 1930, he was appointed Officer-in-Charge of the Dominion Entomological Laboratory, a federal government facility on the University of New Brunswick campus in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Balch's half-hour radio lectures for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's University of the Air series in the spring of 1965 were instrumental in introducing the word "ecology" to the public. Later, he served as the honorary president of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick, one of the first modern Canadian environmental groups established in 1969. He also travelled and photographed in Europe, particularly Ireland, and his photos illustrated a book of Alden Nowlan's poems, “Early Poems.” Balch published numerous scientific articles and books, including "The Ecological Viewpoint" (1956), "A Mind's Eye" (1985), and "Celebration of Nature" (1991). In 1961, he became the first Canadian to receive the Society of American Foresters Award of Achievement in Biological Research. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree by the University of New Brunswick in 1963 and also received the Silver Medal from the Royal Society of Arts.

In 1829, he married Martha Agnes (Rubidge) Bowman (1907–2000). He died on December 31, 1994, in Fredericton, New Brunswick.