The Bureau of Land Management’s Safford Field Office will soon begin improvements to camping areas, roads, and other amenities at the Hot Well Dunes Recreation Area using funding from the Great American Outdoors Act.

MEARS, MI — On the breezy shores of Lake Michigan, Mac Wood’s Dune Rides carries visitors across a rolling landscape of towering sand, where the view is striking and the wind never seems to stop moving.

This scenic drive from Denver leads to one of Colorado’s most surprising national parks—where sandboarding, stargazing, and mystery await.

The area of the park south of Arroyo Grande Creek will be closed to camping and vehicle use due to a court ruling on April 9, 2026, prohibiting motor vehicle use, according to a notice issued by the park.

The National Park Service has announced Mount Baldy Beach in Indiana Dunes National Park will be closed while crews move about 40,000 cubic yards of sand that have buried parts of a parking lot and sanitary infrastructure.

The California Highway Patrol (CHP) is investigating a crash which left one person dead and one person injured. According to a press release, the crash happened at the Imperial Sand Dunes, south of Interstate 8 and south of Grays Well Road, before 11 a.m. Monday.

It’s not the Great Sand Dunes of great fame and national park status. But a smaller set of sand dunes in northwest Colorado is still known to be “very popular” ー and perhaps in need of new management. That’s the thinking of the owning Bureau of Land Management and Colorado Parks and Wildlife as the agencies kick off a public engagement process regarding North Sand Hills OHV Area. That’s been the name under the BLM, which describes the place northeast of Walden as “Colorado’s only open sand dune area for OHV recreation.”

The Oceano Dunes District of California State Parks is spreading hay across parts of the dunes to try to prevent blowing dust and sand.

“What we do is we put a cover of hay on the ground and then we seed native dune seed and, as well as sterile cereal grain for something to germinate quickly to hold the sand down,” explained Jon O’Brien, Oceano Dunes District Superintendent.