At the May 3 meeting of the Lake Arrowhead Mountain Sunrise Rotary Club, Royal Ramey of the Forestry and Fire Recruitment Program presented Laura Dyberg with the Wykin Harris award.

This is an award, Ramey explained, given to community members who support the goal of preventing and suppressing wildfires with innovative and inspiring ways of developing a workforce.

The award was created in memory of Wykin Harris, a firefighter in the San Bernardino National Forest whose counsel and insight was seminal to the creation of the Forestry and Fire Recruitment Program.

Dyberg is the president and CEO of the Mountain Fire Safe Council, which has been awarded numerous grants to help with the removal of hazardous trees, creating defensible space and reducing the threat of wildfires to mountain residents.

The Forestry and Fire Recruitment Program (FFRP) is a nonprofit organization that provides career support to formerly incarcerated firefighters and those currently incarcerated in California’s Conservation Camps. FFRP was developed in direct response to the growing need for wildfire-related personnel.

Their mission is to increase wildfire personnel from non-traditional and underrepresented communities, providing them the training, skills, resources and experiences needed to secure gainful employment.

“The purpose of life is to serve,” Ramey said. “My life is about providing opportunities for people from all walks of life to serve.”