Geri Vanderveer Bergen

1930 - 2018

Geri Vanderver Bergen, forester, conservationist and dedicated volunteer, passed away peacefully in her home in early October. A loving Mother, daughter, sister and grandmother, Geri lived a full life that brought her a successful career in forestry, many "firsts" as a woman, a host of personal accomplishments, loving relationships, and accolades for her conservation efforts and her work as a volunteer for conservation and land-use groups. Geri wanted to leave the world a better place than how she found it and this she did. Born in Brooklyn, NY, in 1930, Geri lived much of her young life in the quaint town of Nutley, NJ. Some of her favorite childhood memories were from her visits to the Poconos and Catskill mountains, where she loved the smell of the woods after a summer rain. Following high school, Geri attended and graduated from secretarial school in New York (because girls weren't supposed to go to college, which she had wanted to do). At age 19, she married and moved with her first husband to Seattle, where she developed an affinity for the great forests and national parks of the Pacific Northwest. Three children and several years later, Geri decided to move to Reno and pursue a career in forestry because it related to all the things she had become interested in in the Northwest. She studied at the University of Nevada, Reno and supported herself as a blackjack dealer at a local casino. She selected the University of California at Berkeley to complete her forestry studies because it was one of the few schools in the nation that allowed women in the forestry program. Geri was the first woman to attend the department's required Summer Camp and had to live with the camp employees rather than her fellow students, who were all men. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Forestry with highest honors in 1962 and went on to complete two years of graduate study before receiving a Master of Arts degree in Botany in 1965. One of Geri's greatest personal accomplishments was being one of four runners-up (out of 2500 students) to the coveted University Medal. Though her final degree was in Botany (which proved very useful over the years), Geri really wanted to be a practicing conservationist and so began working and volunteering to accomplish that goal. As well as being active in many local San Francisco Bay Area conservation and land-use planning groups (Save San Francisco Bay, People for Open Space, West Contra Costa County Conservation League, Richmond Recreation and Parks Commission, Richmond Citizen's Planning Association) she began her forestry career. She held positions as a Research Forester for the Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station; Junior Specialist at the School of Forestry; Public Information Officer for the USDA Forest Service's Pacific Southwest Regional Office (a comm-unity outreach position that she expanded and refined); and as the region's first Regional Environmental Coordinator at the same office, where she developed and led implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) among California's national forests. In 1978, Geri was ready for a change and was reassigned to the Tahoe National Forest, headquartered in Nevada City, to take the position of Deputy Forest Supervisor and become the first woman line officer in the Forest Service. In 1985, she was promoted to Forest Supervisor for the Tahoe National Forest and became the first woman forest supervisor in the nation. Geri was very proud of her work on the Tahoe, where she was responsible for managing the human, financial, and natural resources and improvements on the 80,000-acre national forest. She also provided executive leadership for the development of the Tahoe Land Management Plan. In1990, Geri accepted a promotion to the post of Deputy Director, Environmental Coordination Staff, in the Washington, D.C. headquarters of the Forest Service. Geri retired in 1994 and moved back to Nevada City and the forest area that she loved. Geri did not stop her conser- vation focus upon retirement. Rather she went head-on into a host of volunteer positions and became more active in volunteer groups that she was already associated with. She became familiar with the Nevada County Land Trust (now the Bear Yuba Land Trust) and became a member, then headed up a committee and was invited to join the board. She was an active board participant for 10 years and president in 2003, where she was deeply involved in accepting land trust ownership of the 1905 North Star House in Grass Valley. Geri was a Registered Professional Forester in California and served on the Professional Foresters Examining Committee of the State Board of Forestry for six years. She was a member of the Society of American Foresters (SAF), where she became the first woman to be elected Fellow and served on the SAF Council and the SAF Working Group on Land Use Planning and Design. She was also a very active member of the California Alumni Foresters, National Active and Retired Federal Employees (NARFE), Northern Mines Business and Professional Women (BPW), Soroptimist International of Nevada City and other social and community groups. Geri loved being outdoors in her forested yard, tending to the plants and trees and watching the birds and squirrels nosh on her provided treats; walking her dog, Jenna, along the canals; joining in the festivities always happening in Nevada City; learning about and identifying native plants; watching the weather patterns in her area; tracking local and statewide forest fires; visiting with her children; and participating in the activities of several social groups. Geri is deeply loved and will be greatly missed by her three children - Guy Robert Eldridge (and wife Cheryl) of Colfax, Kathy Schermerhorn (and husband John) of Walnut Creek and Marcia Eldridge of Crockett - as well as her brother, John Bergen (and wife Sharon) of New Hope, PA, her grandchildren and great-grandchild and her many nieces and nephews. If desired, donations in Geri's name may be made to the Bear Yuba Land Trust or Hospice of the Foothills. A Celebration of Geri's Life will be held at the North Star House, 12075 Auburn Rd., Grass Valley, CA on Friday, November 9 at 2-5pm. All who wish to honor and celebrate Geri, her life and the lady that she was, are invited to attend. Please RSVP by phone or text to 925-366-9686.