John Fedak sent me this e-mail from a posting to a Ventana Wilderness listserv:

Folks –

I just got a call from Patrick Bailey, the Wilderness and Trails
Manager for the Monterey Ranger District. He tells me that in
response to Saturday’s fire starts (the Gallery and Basin fires) the
Ventana Wilderness and adjacent areas will be closed. As I
understand it, the Forest Order is not yet in place but is imminent.
Forest management had the Monterey County search and rescue folks
sweep the Pine Ridge Trail yesterday to get people ready to leave
today, and closure notices have been posted at some of the
trailheads. We’ve been requested to please stay out of the area in
anticipation of the Forest Order.

Updated information should be in place soon on the LPF web site:

http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/lospadres

Thanks
Mike Heard

Last time I looked, a few minutes ago, the update had not been posted. More news, though, should probably show up on the Ventana Wild message board.