I was lying in bed Sunday night, doing the kind of social media scrolling that is not helpful when one is trying to fall asleep these days, when I saw it: Illinois was closing their state parks. The next morning, Schlitz Audubon Nature Center in Bayside closed their buildings and trails. Two days later, the Natural Resources Foundation told me they were postponing their field trip program, which was slated to begin April 25.

I couldn’t believe it. The ONE thing I thought was safe from closure and cancelation during the coronavirus pandemic was the outdoors.

What better place to maintain social distance than in wide open spaces? What better place to get away from the constant onslaught of bad news than the great outdoors? If the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources followed Illinois and closed parks and trails, what would we have left?

For now, the Wisconsin DNR agrees, and state parks and trails remain open.

“We have no plans to close our parks,” Paul Holton, a communications specialist with the DNR, said on Wednesday afternoon.

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Michigan and Minnesota have maintained a similar stance, keeping their state parks open.

“Now is a great time to get outdoors,” Minnesota DNR Commissioner Sarah Strommen said in a press release on March 16. “Parks are a great place to do some social distancing and enjoy the health benefits of nature.”

“We agree,” Holton said, noting that the Wisconsin DNR has no intention of preventing people from getting out and enjoying our state’s natural resources.

"We recognize that spending time outdoors benefits both physical and mental health. Getting outdoors can also help relieve stress, especially during this public health emergency. A quiet walk does wonders to reduce our anxieties," DNR Secretary Preston D. Cole said in a news release on Thursday. "The DNR is committed to providing a safe environment for our visitors to enjoy, while protecting the health of our staff."

On Thursday the DNR announced it was closing all campsites through April 30, would issue refunds for existing reservations in that period and was suspending new campsite reservations until further notice. In addition, the DNR canceled all in-person public events and meetings and closed to the public all buildings including park headquarters, offices, visitor centers, shelters and shooting ranges on all DNR-owned properties. Restrooms will remain open and properties will have parks, law enforcement and property staff regularly patrolling areas and ensuring groups larger than 10 do not congregate.

Admission fees are now voluntary at self-registration or electronic kiosks (visitors can also buy passes by phone, 888-936-7463; with cash or check at self-registration stations at parks; and online as part of a package from the Friends of Wisconsin State Parks, newfwsp.blogspot.com).

Less than 48 hours before the Illinois news broke, I had met a few friends at Lapham Peak in Delafield to hike. We had all been working from home for a few days and were already going a little stir crazy, and the sunny skies and golden grasses of the park’s prairie trails beckoned. The hike not only provided some much-needed social interaction for someone like me who lives alone (sorry, but video calls just aren’t the same), but it also provided a dose of that intangible healing power that the outdoors have always given me.

As we hiked, coronavirus and social distancing were always in the back of my mind. Wisconsin’s governor had not yet shut down restaurants, bars and gatherings of more than 10 people, but I had consumed enough news to know how dangerous this virus was and that extreme measures would be coming. I trusted the friends I was hiking with and we kept our distance from people we didn’t know, but even so I wondered: Were we still putting ourselves or others at risk?

While I am young, I fall into the immunocompromised high-risk group, since I’m still on active treatment for my brain cancer. Since my diagnosis in September 2018, I’ve had to be hypervigilant about germs, so I am used to constantly washing my hands and avoiding sick people when I can.

Through it all, the outdoors has been my safe place. I still hiked, biked and backpacked through beautiful Midwestern landscapes. My outdoor activities have kept me physically and mentally healthy through one of the toughest challenges I’ve faced.

Now our nation is in the throes of one of the toughest challenges my generation has faced, and even our special outdoor spaces are at risk.

I understand why even a park could be a place for coronavirus to spread. There are bathrooms and handrails and busy trailheads — all places the virus could potentially live and be transmitted. There are people who work at these parks and are putting themselves at risk by being there so they can stay open.

And if staff were not there, we might see something like what happened at busy national parks during the 2018-2019 federal government shutdown. People are not always on their best behavior when they are unsupervised, and without rangers and other park staff, some parks saw trash accumulating, dirty toilets, and users destroying the resources and landscapes the parks are supposed to protect, according to USA Today.

But here is my plea to the DNR, Milwaukee County Parks and anyone else in charge of Wisconsin's natural places: Please continue to keep them open. We need them now more than ever.

And to my fellow Wisconsinites, if these spaces remain open: Please be safe about exploring them (don’t go if you’re sick, and maintain social distance when you’re there), and follow leave-no-trace principles (pick up your garbage and don’t damage anything).

We’re all in this together, and it will be easier to get through if we still have natural spaces to escape to.

Contact Chelsey Lewis at clewis@journalsentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter at @chelseylew and @TravelMJS and Facebook at Journal Sentinel Travel.

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