KEWEENAW COUNTY — Sheriff Curt Pennala said he wholeheartedly supports the efforts of Joe Schneller’s project placing emergency trail location signs on snowmobile and ATV trails in Houghton and Keweenaw counties.

Pennala said that in the past few years, there has been a substantial increase in recreation in the county, both with snowmobile and ATV traffic. With the increases, he said, a major issue confronting rescue personnel is locating people in emergency situations.

“Our trail rescue crew do an excellent job of locating people,” he said, “but oftentimes, the people who are looking for help are from out of the area and they’re not familiar with the location they’re traveling.”

Pennala said he and his staff do their best to remind riders to pay attention to their locations on the trail, but all too often, the people who are being rescued are unfamiliar with the area when they dial 911 and then they give the dispatcher a vague location. The dispatcher in Negaunee most likely is also unfamiliar with locations in Keweenaw County. When the emergency message reaches the Sheriff’s Office, Pennala said unfortunately, sometimes it ends up being a time-consuming process of elimination trying to locate someone.

Schneller’s signage system will drastically reduce that time, said Pennala.

“I think this is going to cut down on response time and obviously, in an emergency, every minute counts.”

Pennala said the signs are very easy to read. The numbers are large so they can be easily and quickly read, even at a distance.

Pennala said Schneller deserves real credit for his project.

“He’s taken it upon himself to do all the fundraising by himself on this project,” said Pennala, “and putting all the work in to make it happen, and it’s all in the name of public safety.”

Pennala said the trail marker signs are spaced a half mile apart, with each sign having a specific number. The numbers are then put into the regional dispatch system in Negaunee. When someone calls 911 and provides the sign location number, the dispatch has GPS coordinates that correspond to that sign marker number.

“It’s a pretty amazing feat that he’s doing,” said Pennala. “Like I said, he’s taking it all upon himself.”

The project is funded by donations, either through a gofundme account Schneller created, or by donations which are being accepted at the Houghton and Keweenaw County sheriff offices. For those wishing to donate, the gofundme link is: gofund.me/6bc8589d. Any amount is accepted.

Checks can be made out to Joe Schneller or Keweenaw County Sheriff or cash can be donated, the envelope should be marked “attn: Trail Marker Project.”

The mailing address is:

Keweenaw County Sheriff

5105 4th St

Eagle River, MI 49950

Note: Trail project on the envelope.