Water Safety Team Earns State, Regional Awards

A local effort to save swimmers' lives by increasing public awareness of the dangers of Great Lakes rip currents has received awards at the state and regional level.

The Mackinac County Water Safety Review Team's effort focused on rip currents has recently received the coveted John Hannah Award for Outstanding Extension Programming from the Michigan Council of Extension Associations, Michigan State University (MSU) Extension reported October 22.

The award is considered the most prestigious of Extension awards. The Mackinac County team was included in the citation, along with retired Mackinac County MSU Extension Director Mary Kostecki, Sea Grant Extension Educators Ron Kinnunen and Chuck Pistis, National Weather Service meteorologist Dave Guenther, University of Michigan professor and researcher Guy Meadows, and Michigan Sea Grant Communications Director Elizabeth LaPorte and former Sea Grant graphic artist Dave Brenner.

The Great Lakes Sea Grant Extension Program Leaders (representing Sea Grant programs throughout the region) also recognized the rip current awareness and prevention efforts with its 2007 award for outstanding program. The outreach programming award recognizes exceptional leadership, teamwork, and accomplishments having significant impact on the Sea Grant and Extension missions and their benefit to the public.

The Mackinac County team was formed in response to young Travis Brown's drowning at a northern Lake Michigan beach in 1999. Since then, the team and its partners have succeeded in broadening public awareness of rip currents across the Great Lakes region and taking practical steps to prevent drowning deaths on public beaches in the county. Among the initiatives have been:

Installing 10 rescue stations along a seven-mile stretch of US-2 where it hugs the Lake Michigan shoreline.

Each station includes a life preserver, boogie board, and some feature emergency cell phones set to dial 911.

Producing and distributing signs and a rip current brochure, describing the danger and the appropriate steps swimmers and would-be rescuers should take to "Break the Grip of the Rip."

Conducting the first Great Lakes Rip Current Conference and sharing knowledge, skill, and experience in creating public awareness and developing prevention and rescue strategies.

As a result of the team's effort to learn more about the phenomenon that killed Travis Brown, Mr. Meadows and his University of Michigan research team have developed greater knowledge about Great Lakes rip currents, which had previously been unrecognized as a hazard.

The National Weather Service has conducted research that has led to including rip current advisories in its hazardous weather forecasts for the Great Lakes.

As a result of the team's outreach efforts, other Great Lakes communities, as well as federal, state, and local agencies, have recognized the potential for rip current hazards in their vicinity and have posted signs and developed greater awareness at beaches.

Members of the review team represent the United States Forest Service, Michigan State University Extension, Luce, Mackinac, Alger, Schoolcraft District Health Department, Moran Township, First National Bank of St. Ignace, National Weather Service, Dunes Shores Resort, United States Coast Guard, Michigan Sea Grant, Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Michigan Department of Transportation, St. Ignace Chamber of Commerce, Emergency Services, Allied EMS, Cellular One, and the Travis Brown Family.