PUEBLO — Memorial Day weekend is one of many more weekends Magali Quirk and her family will spend boating at Lake Pueblo State Park.
“It is a lot of fun.”
The family also knows the fun requires respect for potential dangers that come with open water activities.
“It's colder than you think it is,” said Quirk, “You can't go to the side and grab the side of the pool here. It's deep and you don't realize how dangerous it could be.”
A new Safety Ambassador program at the reservoir is launching to emphasize necessary precautions when boating and swimming at the reservoir.
“Talk to people and get them to act wisely around water and be safe,” said Ambassador Coordinator, Rafael Jimenez.
The need for more safety education was evident after eight people tragically died in multiple water-related accidents over the 2022 recreation season at the reservoir.
“Anytime there's a boating accident, that's cause for alarm,” said Jimenez.
Over Memorial Day Weekend the volunteer ambassadors used a game show format with prizes to initiate boating safety conversations.
With every conversation, there is one topic always addressed.
Jimenez said, “The final goal is to make sure that everybody's wearing their life jacket when they go out on the boat.”
The volunteer ambassadors leave enforcement to Colorado Parks and Wildlife rangers.
“If we see a problem, we'll report it,” said Jimenez.
Their primary mission is education.
The program is starting at Lake Pueblo.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife will likely take what is learned here and expand it to other water recreation areas in the state.
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