“Right now the public response is great,” he said. “If we don’t have these problems, we don’t need to go to that higher level.”

Minnesota state parks staff talk to campers as they check in about the high fire danger and the need to be cautious, said Sara Joy Berhow, a spokesperson for the DNR’s parks and trails department.

Per the state order, campfires are still allowed in fire rings at homes, campsites or resorts. They are banned for dispersed and backcountry camping, including backpack campsites in state parks in Cook, Lake, St. Louis and Koochiching counties.

“We try to communicate in many ways to reach people about safety issues and other warnings before they reach a park, but there will be people who arrive at a park without having heard of the red flag warning,” Berhow said.

The dry spell has pushed most of the state back into drought for the first time in months, with nearly a third of Minnesota in severe drought, according to a Thursday update from the US Drought Monitor.

It was only recently that heavy spring rains caused damaging flooding that threatened dams, overflowing manure lagoons and flooded sewage treatment systems in southern Minnesota.