(1930-2018)
Forester and Conservationist
Geri V. Bergen was a pioneer who turned her love of the outdoors into a groundbreaking career in forestry, a lifelong commitment to conservation, and a successful leadership role in natural resource management. Remembered as a “Woman of Many Firsts,” her many professional accomplishments were often the first by a woman. As her most widely recognized “first,” she made history as the first woman in the U.S. Forest Service to serve as a Forest Supervisor.
Geri was responsible for professional leadership of the Tahoe National Forest, an 870,000-acre site headquartered in Nevada City, California, including management of the Forest’s land use and resources as a public/private venture that benefits non-governmental businesses, serves the public interest, and maintains the health and productivity of the Forest.
In addition to her professional career, Geri created a concurrent volunteer leadership “life” that was equally productive in advancing her forestry/conservation goals. Through participation in a host of not-for-profit organizations, she was a leader in widely promoting understanding and active involvement in conservation and environmental issues. As one example of such an organization, Geri participated in the Society of American Foresters (SAF) for 50 years and was the first woman to receive that Society’s highest award in recognition.
Geri was especially proud of her third “career,” a lifetime commitment to advance through mentoring and support as many women’s professional lives as she could impact, not only within the Forest Service but in Geri’s many volunteer organizations, and wherever else possible. Again, she worked frequently through outside organizations, like Business and Professional Women (BPW) and Soroptimist International, to help other women achieve their goals.
In all three “careers,” Geri broke many barriers and earned the love, admiration, and respect of many along the way.
Geri spent her young life in her hometown of Nutley, graduating from Nutley High School in 1948. Some of her favorite childhood memories were visits to the Poconos and Catskills where she first realized her love of forests and public lands. Geri later earned degrees in Forestry and Botany at the University of California (UC-Berkeley). At that time, UC-Berkeley was one of few programs in the U.S. willing to accept a woman into its forestry program.
Geri was a loving mother, daughter, sister, and grandmother and lived a full life that brought her a successful career in forestry, a host of personal accomplishments, and loving family and collegial relationships. Geri would be delighted to know that she is being inducted into the Nutley Hall of Fame, where it all began.