NASHVILLE,
Tenn. (March 7, 2016) – U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District park
rangers from Cheatham
Lake
received the Great
Lakes and Ohio River Division 2015 Water Safety Award during
a ceremony March 1, 2016.
Lt.
Col. Stephen F. Murphy, Nashville District commander, presented
the award on behalf of Operations Division Chief, Kareem S. El-Naggar, which
recognized park rangers Brian Mangrum, Kyle Beverly, Dean Austin, and Michael
Kuntz for their work to spread the water safety message to
people of diverse age groups and backgrounds.
“This
award represents getting out there educating the public on wearing their life
jacket and the dangers of drinking and boating - it makes a difference.” said
Murphy. “We are the third largest district in the division, and my hat is off
for your hard work and the huge impact you make.”
Larry
Nash, Cheatham Lake natural resource manager, said he is extremely proud of the
achievements the staff has reached and the importance of their efforts. He
noted that every year the park rangers strive to reach and impact over 13,000
people a year with water safety education.
“Water
safety is a primary mission of the overall visitor assistance program to
provide the public the safest recreational environment that we can provide.”
said Nash. “In the summer time when the
public is here, our primary focus is to keep them safe.”
To
promote public safety, the park rangers maintain a presence on the lakes,
recreation areas and campgrounds throughout the year and interact with the
public in these areas during the recreation season.
"We
strive to make water safety a year round goal, and by doing that we often have
to change our programs or venues depending on the time of the year.” said Park
Ranger Kyle Beverly, natural resource specialist. “Last year we were able to do programs at the
youth duck hunt, Cheatham County fair, Wounded Warrior fishing tournament, and
Metro Park’s summer programs along with boat patrols and driving thru the
recreation areas and campgrounds.”
Nashville
District park rangers have the ability to enforce federal boating
regulations. They routinely engage the
public recreating on Corps lakes to promote good water safety practices when
boating and recreating.
Cheatham
Lake, which is a run of the river project, falls within six counties in
Tennessee in the Cumberland River basin. Within these counties the Corps of
Engineers manages two campgrounds, eight
recreation areas and hosts more than one million visitors a year within its 320
miles of shoreline.
(The public can obtain news, updates and information from the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District on the district’s website at www.lrn.usace.army.mil, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/nashvillecorps and on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/nashvillecorps. The public can also visit Cheatham Lake’s Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/cheathamlake.)