Beach season is over, but the region's shoreline will attract a new set of visitors this month: government and nonprofit workers, who will give 39 local beaches a major safety upgrade.

Members of the Northwest Michigan Water Safety Network – a coalition of community agencies including Grand Traverse County, the U.S. Coast Guard, American Red Cross, Michigan Sea Grant and more – are preparing to install new rescue stations and water safety signage at beaches in Grand Traverse, Leelanau and Benzie counties. Outfitted with a ring buoy, throw rope and reversible signage displaying seasonally appropriate information (such as riptide warnings in the summer and ice rescue instructions in the winter), the stations are a direct response to more than 20 drownings and 60 rescues that occurred in the five-county area from 2010 to 2013.

“We're surrounded by water, both internally and on the lakefront...yet when we started assessing beaches in the area, there were almost no rescue stations in place,” says Jennifer Ritter, Injury Prevention Coordinator for Michigan State University Extension-Munson Trauma and co-chair of the Safety Network. “If you look at the facts, when there's a potential drowning and someone can't get to the victim, but has to call emergency personnel, it often becomes a recovery – not a rescue. Our goal is to give a person onshore the tools to help someone in the water.”

Beaches slated to receive rescue stations include 24 in Grand Traverse County (including Clinch Park, West End Beach, Bryant Park and Sunset Park), 12 in Leelanau County (including Omena Beach, Empire Beach and Suttons Bay Park) and 3 in Benzie County (Crystal Lake, Alberta Village Beach and Frankfort Beach). Costing an estimated $200 each, the stations are being funded through Grand Traverse County's two percent allocation from the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians.

This month's installation is the first step in what Ritter hopes will be an ongoing effort to eventually equip beaches across northern Michigan with safety equipment. Some municipalities, including Fife Lake Township, have already approached the Safety Network about purchasing stations for their own beaches; other areas could receive upgrades as the coalition secures additional funding.

The Safety Network is also looking long-term at outfitting the stations with QR code stickers, which would provide up-to-the-minute beach information for smart phone users, including water temperatures and hazard warnings such as elevated E. coli levels. Ritter says she hopes the stickers could be in place as soon as next year.

The beach rescue stations are the Safety Network's second major undertaking after the group formed last year to address an uptick in regional drownings. The coalition's first effort established basic water safety instruction for incoming Traverse City Area Public Schools (TCAPS) freshmen beginning in 2013. Through that program, "we have provided hundreds of ninth grade students with basic water safety instruction...and expect another 400 students to go through the program this year,” says TCAPS Associate Superintendent Sander Scott. A second partnership with the Grand Traverse YMCA this fall will provide additional swim instruction to more than 375 third-graders. 

Grand Traverse County Parks & Recreation Director Kristine Erickson adds that, through a partnership with American Red Cross, the county is offering full scholarships to community members this fall for swim lessons, lifeguard classes and water safety instruction. As an added bonus, the county is looking to hire those with lifeguard training to work at its Easling Pool. (Email here if you're interested or for more details.)