Natural History Wanderings

California State Parks is implementing safety measures to reduce the density of visitors over the Fourth of July weekend (July 3-5) in the State Park System. All state beaches in Los Angeles and Ventura counties will be temporarily fully closed to the public in alignment with county public health orders. State Parks will also be temporarily closing vehicular access at all beaches in Marin, Monterey, Orange, San Diego, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz and Sonoma counties. While other state park units will remain open, State Parks’ staff will monitor visitation and physical distancing over the weekend. Measures will be taken to modify operations where needed to limit overcrowding. Current camping reservations at all state park units over the Fourth of July weekend will be honored.

Everyone has the responsibility to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, including in the outdoors. The public is reminded to avoid road trips and stay close to home, maintain physical distancing, wear a face covering when a physical distance of six feet from others who are not from the immediate household members cannot be maintained, and avoid congregating. This means no gatherings, picnics or parties. Visitors are being asked to leave if there are too many people to allow for the required physical distance. As a reminder, the use of fireworks is not permitted in the State Park System (year-round).

Below is a breakdown of the safety measures State Parks is implementing over the Fourth of July holiday weekend (July 3-5):