Tuesday, October 13, 2026

Washington Fish and Wildlife is reopening several public shellfish beaches on Hood Canal starting Wednesday, October 14, after part of a summer biotoxin closure was rescinded in line with a state Department of Health advisory. The department says the move is meant to make up for harvest lost this summer.

Open: Duckabush Tidelands for clams, mussels and oysters until further notice; Belfair State Park for clams, mussels and oysters through October 31; Triton Cove Tidelands for clams and mussels through October 31; and Point Whitney Tidelands and Point Whitney Lagoon for oysters through October 31. Other public beaches in central Hood Canal, north of a line from Triton Head to Tekiu Point and east of a line due south from Sisters Point, follow their normal posted seasons.

Still closed: public beaches in southern Hood Canal south and west of those lines, all public beaches in Port Gamble Bay south of a line from Teekalet Point to Point Julia, and beaches from the mouth of Mats Mats Bay to Paradise Bay, including Port Ludlow Bay.

Biotoxin closures can change quickly. Check the Washington Shellfish Safety Map or the department's Find a Beach tool the day you go, and always confirm the beach's own season.

The Blue Ridge Parkway's last weather closure from Hurricane Isaias, milepost 455.7 to 469.1 from Soco Gap to U.S. 441 at the Smokies, is no longer listed as closed, according to the Parkway's road status as of 7:35 a.m. Tuesday.

One Virginia section that reopened Monday afternoon is closed again: milepost 76.4 to 85.9, from the Apple Orchard parking area to Peaks Road (VA 43), including Peaks of Otter Lodge, listed as "closed temporarily" with no reason or reopening time given. If you are booked at the lodge, call ahead.

Also still closed: Roanoke Mountain Loop, the Forest Service's Stoney Fork access road at milepost 367.6, and the Hurricane Helene section from NC 80 to Mount Mitchell State Park, milepost 344.2 to 355.3, where all recreation is prohibited. Great Smoky Mountains National Park has not posted an update on Newfound Gap Road since closing it Friday; check with the park before driving it. The Parkway's status can change through the day.

The Bouquet Fire is 100 percent contained at 1,048 acres, the Angeles National Forest says, and nothing remains closed. The Drinkwater OHV area and forest roads 6N18 (Saugus del Sur) and 6N19 (Quarry Road) reopened at 4 p.m. Monday, October 12. Rowher Flat reopened, and all evacuation orders were lifted, on Friday evening, October 9.

The fire started October 3 near Bouquet Canyon Road south of Bouquet Reservoir and grew quickly in brush that had not burned in decades. The federal incident report puts the final cost at about $4.5 million.

A Burned Area Emergency Response team, with engineers, hydrologists, archaeologists and a wildlife biologist, has been assessing soil stability, watershed conditions and damage since October 9. The team's findings will guide stabilization work. Riders using Drinkwater should expect freshly graded roads and stay off any areas the forest posts as closed after that assessment.

Containment on the Dome Fire has reached 86 percent, the incident's InciWeb page says, with no change to the perimeter in several days. The fire stands at 6,788 acres. Activity is minimal, and any smoke visible is from pockets of heat in the interior. The federal incident report shows 746 people still assigned, down from more than 900 last week, and an estimated final cost of $60 million.

The work now is cleanup. Crews, mule trains and helicopters are removing hose and equipment from remote wilderness. Suppression repair has begun: along secondary hand lines, crews are pulling berms back to match the terrain and scattering vegetation to hide the lines and limit erosion. California Interagency Incident Management Team 4 is scheduled to hand command back to Yosemite on Thursday, October 15.

After a cold Tuesday with highs in the 40s, a warming, drying trend brings highs in the 50s and near 60 on Wednesday and Thursday, with light winds.

Glacier Point Road is open. Every trail inside the active fire footprint remains closed, including all south- and eastbound trails from Glacier Point Road, Ostrander, Mono Meadow and Buena Vista. The Chilnualna Falls, Alder Creek, Four Mile and Panorama trails are open.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is taking public comment on a proposal to enroll about 57 miles of existing roads and trails in Becker County in the state's OHV grant-in-aid program. The Woods and Wheels ATV Club proposed the Ice Cracking ATV Trail, with Becker County as the local government sponsor.

No new trail would be built. Enrollment would bring state cost-share money to maintain the existing system, and the route would connect Two Inlets State Forest east toward White Earth State Forest and a wider OHV network. The grant-in-aid program is a partnership between the DNR, a local government and a local club that funds trails for ATVs, off-highway motorcycles and off-road vehicles.

Written comments are due by 4:30 p.m. Friday, November 13, by email to the address in the DNR's release, with the trail's name in the subject line and body, or by mail to Molly Lou Pintok, principal planner, Minnesota DNR Parks and Trails Division, 500 Lafayette Road, St. Paul, MN 55155. A map is on the DNR's OHV trail plans and proposals page; questions go to 651-259-5095.

Hunters in southwest Minnesota will have to get every deer a year or older that they take on the firearms deer opener, Saturday and Sunday, November 7 and 8, sampled for chronic wasting disease, the Minnesota DNR says. Mandatory sampling is new to the southwest this year.

It is the first year of a four-year rotation. The DNR has divided the state into four surveillance blocks, about a quarter of the state each: the southwest in 2026, the northwest in 2027, the northeast in 2028 and the southeast in 2029. Until now the department sampled mostly near known cases, and nearly two-thirds of the state has not had targeted surveillance in more than 20 years. Recent detections outside the existing CWD management zones prompted the change.

Hunters can get deer tested at staffed or self-service sampling stations, among other options listed by the DNR. Check the surveillance block map before the opener to see whether your hunting area is inside it.

The Minnesota DNR wants early input, through 4:30 p.m. November 19 on an online questionnaire, on fishing rule proposals. They include matching Wisconsin's bass catch-and-release seasons on the St. Croix River; adding Perch Lake to the St. Louis River boundary-water rules, with a bass catch-and-release season and new walleye size limits; closing Musky Bay on the Mississippi and waters near electric carp barriers; opening several Otter Tail County streams and the water below Locks and Dams 3 and 4; letting the DNR close Grand Marais harbor in fall when brook trout gather there; and aligning Saganaga Lake's walleye length rules with statewide rules.