PUEBLO, Colo. (KOAA) — Nearly 3,000,000 people will visit Lake Pueblo State Park this summer. Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) is expecting to see more children and families heading to the lake in the coming weeks as schools let out for summer break.
CPW added a new resource they hope will help keep people stay safe this summer at the lake. If you’re headed to the lake this year, make sure to grab your life jacket.
“If we can get people when they're around the water to put on life jackets, we think it can save lives,” said Joe Stadterman, Park Manager at Lake Pueblo State Park. “We encourage people to use them, and we want them to use them.”
If you don’t have a life jacket, you can now borrow one.
“We recognize that, you know, there's a need for people to wear life jackets, and we thought, if we can take that step and offer them, that maybe people will be more likely to wear them, and we can break the stigma of people not wearing life jackets,” said Stadterman.
CPW has added two new life jacket loaner stations. One on at the South Fishing Area and the other at Sailboard.
“The life jackets are only as good as the people wearing them. If people decide not to wear them, they're not going to do any good,” said Stadterman.
The life jackets are free to use, just remember to return them when you're done.
“So they are available for the next person,” said Stadterman.
He said the majority of incidents on the water are weather related.
“Typically its wind and cold water,” said Stadterman.
Around the lake are signs with QR codes. People can scan them, and it brings you to the National Weather Service's website, so people can keep an eye on the wind risk and weather at the lake.
“Even when the water gets warm, later in the summer, the water's cold in Colorado, you can get hypothermia in water, you know, up into the 70s. So, we really encourage people to, you know, wear those life jackets that we provide,” said Stadterman.
He said as long as people bring them back, the life jackets will be at the lake for many summers to come.
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