BATH

Many trees have been planted in and around this beautiful city since Geraldine Coombs helped organize the Bath Community Forestry Committee 20 years ago, and many others have been kept healthy.

A trust — $30,000 and growing — has been established, as has a management plan. The city has hired Tom Hoerth as its arborist.

Coombs, retiring from the forestry committee at 89, is pleased with all this.

“It’s for a healthier and more beautiful Bath,” the lifelong Bath resident said. “But I’m just one of many volunteers. I enjoyed every minute of it, and I learned a great deal.”

Coombs gives much of the credit for the committee’s work to Denis Hebert, who was director of cemeteries and parks. Hebert thought that such a committee would be helpful, she said.

“If we didn’t have a forestry committee,” she said, “I’m not sure who would tend to this. We wouldn’t be planting trees, probably. There was no arborist when we began.”

Beth Haskell, who handles communications for the committee, praised Coombs as an outstanding member of the community.

“Her knowledge of Bath’s trees, soils, and landscapes is astounding and worth documenting for the future,” Haskell said. “I see her as a caretaker for the city’s trees.”

Coombs is among a group of older people in the city who appreciate the “urban forest,” and want to keep Bath a member in good standing of Tree City USA. To do that, Bath must meet four standards established by the Arbor Day Foundation and the National Association of State Foresters:

— A tree board or department.

— A tree care ordinance.

— A community forestry program with an annual budget of at least $2 per capita.

— An Arbor Day observance and proclamation.

Coombs has much knowledge of trees to pass on to younger people.

“She can sit down with you for an hour and tell you how to plant a tree,” Haskell said. “She has an amazing gift. She loves to prune, and Tom is only one man, and it’s difficult for him to keep up with a city of this size, so the forestry committee has done its best to help him.”

Committee members credit Coombs for the restoration of Druid Park.

“She spearheaded raising money for trees, gardens and an underground sprinkler system,” Haskell said. “She wants younger people to get involved, but still will come to meetings and tend to Druid Park.”

Mary Earl Rogers, who began working with the committee as a volunteer in 1999, said that Druid Park is a prime example of how the beauty of nature enhances such a major gateway to the city.

“She’s out there every Monday morning at Druid Park, weeding and trimming and tidying up,” Rogers said. “I can’t say enough about her. Gerry is just do dedicated. She’s just an amazing woman.”

A few years back, a tree in Coombs’ honor was planted in Library Park.

“I am constantly amazed by Gerry’s recall of so many things that get by the rest of us,” Rogers said.

The committee consists of nine members. Hoerth and Steve Balboni, director of parks and recreation, are ex-officio members.

Following its inception, the committee set about writing a trust, Coombs recalls.

Butler Head, a city-owned preserve in North Bath, is among the committee’s focal points. Hoerth, in coordination with Regional School Unit 1, helps manage a maple syrup and sugar bush project there.

The committee uses the interest from its trust to care for city trees.

“It’s a small interest but it grows all the time because we have gifts (added) to it,” Coombs said. “The gifts come from the citizens of Bath, and the area.”

Coombs once served as chairwoman of the committee, a position now held by Thomas Barrington.

Her husband, John, was a city councilor for years.

Coombs earned her undergraduate degree in reading at Bates College, and her master’s at the University of Southern Maine. For many years, she taught handicapped children in Bath and in Brunswick.

lgrard@timesrecord.com