This summer the Michigan Department of Natural Resources is giving away more than 400 inflatable life jackets to boaters on the Detroit River and Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair who pledge to wear them at all times while boating.

This weekend, DNR conservation officers and their customized Zodiac patrol vessel are going to be at Tri-Centennial State Park and Harbor for the Red Bull Air Races. The schedule also includes the Freedom Festival Fireworks, June 22; the Gold Cup Hydroplane Races, July 9-12: and the Port Huron to Mackinac Race, July 23-26. The complete schedule can be found online at www.wearitmichigan.com.

The DNR's "Wear It Michigan!" campaign is a simple message to promote the value of life jacket wear by recreational boaters. The life jackets have been donated by the National Safe Boating Council and its boating safety partners across the U.S. and Canada.

"This promotion is our way of letting Michigan boaters know that it's important to always wear -- and not just stow -- life jackets on board one's boat," said Lt. Andrew Turner, state boating law administrator for the DNR's Law Enforcement Division. "More than 90 percent of the water fatalities recorded in Michigan could have been prevented if the victims had been wearing a life jacket."

During the DNR's "Wear It Michigan" campaign, special teams of state conservation officers will be out on the water in a specially marked "Wear It Michigan" boat asking boaters they meet to take the "Wear It" Pledge. Everyone who signs a pledge card will be entered in a weekly drawing to win a manual inflatable (Type III) life jacket that will have a "Wear It" rubber logo sewn onto the life jacket.

The DNR's report on the 2008 boating season in Michigan shows 36 fatalities in 31 fatal accidents statewide. Of those, 28 people drowned. Only two of those boaters were wearing life jackets.

To learn more about the "Wear It Michigan" campaign, visit the DNR Web site at www.michigan.gov/dnr and click on the "Wear It Michigan" button on the front page.