California Wildfires Prompting Public Land Closures
My close friend Steve, who lives in Fresno and works in the western San Joaquin Valley, sent this photo from work that reflects on how poorly the air quality is in the state from several wildfires burning seemingly everywhere.
Besides the much bigger news of the homes in danger – plus at least one death so far – many outdoors recreation areas are being shutdown by the threat of the fires.
California Department of Fish and Wildlife also has some information on public-land closures with this press release:
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) is temporarily closing some of its public lands in response to multiple active fires in Colusa, Lake, Lassen, Merced, Monterey, Napa, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Sierra, Solano, Sonoma and Yolo counties. The closures will help ensure safety and accommodate the needs of fire crews.
The updated list of CDFW land closures can be found at wildlife.ca.gov/closures.
The lands listed on the closures page will be closed to all public access and activities including hunting until further notice. Due to the uncertain nature of the fires and potential damage to state lands, it is unknown when these areas will reopen to the public.
Here are some the latest closures:
Lands
- Bonny Doon Ecological Reserve (Santa Cruz County) Public HealthWildfire
- Cache Creek Wildlife Area (Colusa and Lake counties) Wildfire
- Cedar Roughs Wildlife Area (Napa County) Wildfire
- Cottonwood Creek Wildlife Area (Merced County) Wildfire
- Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve (Monterey County) Public Health
- Hallelujah Junction Wildlife Area (Lassen and Sierra counties) Wildfire
- Knoxville Wildlife Area (Napa and Yolo counties) Wildfire
- Putah Creek Wildlife Area (Solano County) Wildfire
- Rector Reservoir Wildlife Area (Napa County) Wildfire
- San Antonio Valley Ecological Reserve (Santa Clara County) Wildfire
