Stewards of the Summit: Firewise USA Program

Event Details

Our final speaker in the Stewards of the Summit lecture series offers guidance for protecting against a major threat to our Blue Ridge wilderness: human-influenced wildfires. The national Firewise Coalition program provides a collaborative framework to help neighbors in a geographic area get organized, find direction, and take action to increase ignition resistance of their homes and community and to reduce wildfire risks at the local level. Joining us at the summit, Frank Riley is our local representative of this nation-wide program and will share details of the program’s goals, while offering information on home assessments and tips for protecting our families, our homes, and of course, our forests.

About the speakers: Frank Riley has worked 55 years as a professional forester, and has been Executive Director of the Chestatee/Chattahoochee Resource Conservation & Development (RC&D) Council for the past 13 years. A highly celebrated voice in the public, he is Georgia’s Firewise liaison. Among many other accolades, he is also the recipient of the 2021 Silver Smokey Bear Award for his work promoting wildfire education in the Southeast. Michael Courey currently serves as the President of the Ridgeview Mountain Property Owners Association and is a dedicated board member of the FireWise Coalition of Towns County. His dedication to public outreach through educating homeowners on fire safety starting within the home has made several local communities FireWise approved neighborhoods!

In celebration of our FireWise programming as well as International Firefighters Day, visitors will be welcomed with a local firetruck at the bald, and of course, the firefighters who use them for our safety! Tours will be available for anyone interested in peeking into the lives of our important public figures, and we are grateful to the Towns County Fire Department for showing their support of public lands and fire safety awareness!

Please arrive at least 25-30 minutes early; you will need to use our shuttle service or walk the Summit path to the mountaintop amphitheater!