Just for information.
Saint Anthony Dunes remained open during the shut down. Why? Because the BLM doesn't even patrol Saint Anthony Dunes. The local sheriff does. They have one or two Deputies that have a trailer office at the BLM campground. They along with our Dumont friends Sand Crab and Sand Flea ( Campground Hosts and Volunteers @ Egin Lake) do rescues and the Sheriffs do rescues and sometimes patrol the dunes. The BLM did shut down the campground but the day use area and the store stayed open.
There are only three official entrances to the dunes. The BLM Egin Lake access, Idaho Dunes RV and Sand Hills Resort. Sand Hills shut down a week early and the shutdown took care of Egin Lake so that left us the only game in town. We stayed open for an extra weekend to pick up the slack. We had quite a few Utah, Idaho and Montana visitors make the extra time good for us and they enjoyed a good last ride of the year.
Maybe BLM should do the same at Dumont since they are always complaining about lack of funds to service Dumont and other recreation areas in their district. Seems like we always see more of the San Bernardino people anyway.
Egin Lake BLM charges $5 for day use, Sand Hills doesn't allow Day Use from their Campground and We only ask for people to buy something in the store for day use. Drink, candy bar whatever.
The best part is that there is no fee to ride the dunes, no passes, no check points etc. All three campgrounds have direct access to the dunes
Pat