A website from UGA Cooperative Extension

Join Trees Atlanta Thursday, January 16th from 12pm – 1pm for a virtual lunch & learn! Visit the event page to register and learn more.

East Decatur Greenway’s Executive Director, Michele Ritan, will share the journey of the East Decatur Greenway from a blighted brownfield site into a vibrant community greenspace. Michele successfully engaged neighbors, university students, non-profits, and federal partners and will discuss how to leverage local engagement and collaboration when developing a greenspace.

Trees Atlanta’s Forest Restoration Manager Madison Cummiskey and long-time EPA Environmental Engineer Camilla Warren will share why local and federal environmental organizations and agencies value working with community leaders and best practices for leveraging their resources on your community projects.

Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from leaders in community transformation and get inspired to make a difference in your own neighborhood! This is a great program for community leaders working in greenspaces.

About the Speakers

Michele Ritan is the Executive Director of East Decatur Greenway. Michele graduated from Agnes Scott College a long time ago, and never left the Decatur area. She has worked in nonprofit consulting and administration for over twenty years. Michele works to engage neighbors, volunteers, students, nonprofits, and federal partners through the East Decatur Greenway project.

Camilla Warren is an Environmental Engineer who recently retired from the EPA. She has a BSFR in Forest Water Resources (Hydrology) from UGA, and a MS in Environmental Engineering Water Resources and Policy from Clemson. She began her career with the EPA in 1984, and has led the Brownfields and Land Revitalization Program since 2004. In this role she worked with communities and other partners to assess, clean up, and revitalize brownfields and communities throughout the Southeast. Locally her work includes the City of Atlanta Brownfields Program, funding for the Atlanta Beltline Eastside trail, the Proctor Creek Greenway and the East Decatur Greenway. She has also worked with coastal communities including the National Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor. She has been nationally recognized for having “demonstrated outstanding leadership in assisting stakeholders to achieve sustainability, as demonstrated by outcomes that have long-term environmental, economic and social impacts, through the application of innovative, collaborative, systemic approaches to problem-solving.”

Madison Cummiskey is the Forest Restoration Manager here at Trees Atlanta and is a certified Arborist and licensed pesticide applicator. Originally from Rochester NY, graduated from SUNY ESF in Syracuse, NY with a bachelors of wildlife science, in 2017 Madison started working for Trees Atlanta. She has worked in over 50 greenspaces in and around Atlanta and specializes in invasive plant species management and habitat restoration. Madison has helped with the restoration of EDG since its inception and is extremely passionate about community involvement and stewardship in greenspaces.

Visit the event page to register and learn more.