Utah expands free life jacket loaners at 23 state parks

Utah’s summer water season just got easier for families who would rather paddle, float or boat without buying gear at the last minute. Utah State Parks and the Division of Outdoor Recreation expanded the free Life Jacket Loaner Program to 23 state parks and additional partner locations, so visitors can borrow a properly sized, U.S. Coast Guard-approved vest for the day and return it when they leave.

For Wasatch Back trips, that means stop-and-go convenience at Jordanelle State Park, Deer Creek State Park and East Canyon State Park, where reservoir days often start with a last-minute decision to launch. The same basic setup also reaches other popular water destinations, including Utah Lake, where officials described the life-jacket station effort as a first-come, first-served loaner program. The point is simple: if the outing turns from a beach plan into a boating plan, the gear can be there before the boat leaves the dock.

That matters because Utah’s rules are not loose suggestions. State agencies say every person aboard a vessel must have at least one wearable, U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jacket available. Children 12 and younger must wear a properly sized vest whenever a boat is in operation, and everyone on rivers, including people in inner tubes, must wear one. Utah officials also cite a national statistic they use in safety messaging: 80% of people who drowned in boating accidents would have survived had they been wearing a personal flotation device.

The rollout arrived with extra weight behind it. Governor Spencer J. Cox declared May 16, 2025, as Life Jacket Safety Day in Utah, underscoring how far water-safety outreach has spread beyond a seasonal reminder. Intermountain Children’s Health donated 1,000 life jackets to help stock the new stations, a practical boost that should keep the self-serve model working when summer crowds build at lakes, reservoirs and state-park beaches.

The program also carries a memory of why it exists. Local reporting linked earlier Utah Lake loaner efforts to the 2020 drownings of Priscilla Bienkowski and Sophia Hernandez, and community advocates including Kim Boylan Ray and Paddle With Care Utah helped maintain the original stations. Utah Division of Outdoor Recreation now plans an online landing page and interactive map so visitors can find stations before they pack the car, which is exactly the kind of small planning tool that can turn a spontaneous lake day into a safer one.