Tom Barrington, who has served on the Bath Community Forestry Committee board since 1995, has stepped down as chairman of the panel.

Elizabeth Haskell, who succeeds Barrington, says she recognizes that the challenge will be “to speak for the trees of Bath.”

In order to do so, Haskell said Thursday, the committee must learn better how to compete with other worthwhile organizations that seek funding, which the tree committee uses for preservation, planting, education and more.

“We might need to look at new types of funding, such as online auctions, and grants,” Haskell said.

Haskell said she is just getting used to the idea of replacing Barrington.

“The Bath community is well aware of his contributions,” she said. “It’s a situation that I just have to grow into.”

Barrington announced recently he is relinquishing his chairmanship of the committee but remaining a member. He also continues to serve as chairman of the Bath Community Forestry Committee Trust and on the board of the Kennebec Estuary Land Trust, which he helped establish in 1989.

“My primary focus for the committee will be preserving Butler Head for future generations,” he said, referring to plans to make Butler

Head part of a conservation easement that would be held by Kennebec Estuary Land Trust but administered by the Bath Community Forestry Committee.

Butler Head is used for educational purposes with the Regional School Unit 1 maple sugaring project. It provides access to the coastline for the Maine Island Trails Association and provides hiking trails for local residents.

“There is still much work to be done in preparing the trails and putting up signage,” Harrington said.

In December, the Bath Community Forestry Committee received a $5,000 grant from the Merrymeeting Bay Trust to do that work and develop flora and fauna brochures for the north Bath property.

Haskell shares Harrington’s passion for Butler Head.

“Butler Head is in the beginning state of becoming a preserve, where people can go,” she said.

Haskell knows something about trees, and their impact on the environment.

“I have traveled to remote areas of the world and have seen the devastation of forests in Africa and South America’s Amazon Basin resulting in the loss of animal habitat, the decline of air quality, and the destruction caused by soil erosion,” she said.

Since moving to Bath, Haskell recognized immediately that the city was fortunate to have a vast variety of Northeastern trees, and an urban forest. Bath residents understand that trees are an important economic commodity to the downtown and the surrounding neighborhoods, she said.

“Even though trees are the oldest ‘living’ things on earth and provide the very air we need to survive, it is difficult to compete for charitable donations when you are up against a cute panda, a starving child or a disaster relief fund,” said Haskell. “In a small community like Bath, which is very charitable, there are dozens of worthwhile organizations seeking donations from merchants and individuals.

“The most difficult goal of the BCFC is convincing people that we need trees in order to enjoy a healthy future for our children and grandchildren.”

Haskell said she was impressed by a comment received recently from Bath’s summer forestry intern, Kelly Swarthout.

In a college report Swarthout sent to the committee, she stated: “Having come from a small, new community in Wisconsin, I was struck by the immense size of the trees in Bath compared to my hometown of Neenah which had mostly newly planted trees.”

Her goal as chairwoman, Haskell said, “is to help bring more recognition to the Committee’s great work and expand our education programs throughout the city. We are very fortunate to be a Tree City USA recipient as recognized by the Arbor Tree Foundation.”

¦ TOM BARRINGTON continues to serve as chairman of the Bath Community Forestry Committee Trust and on the board of the Kennebec Estuary Land Trust, which he helped establish in 1989.