May 2, 2025
(Associated Press)
–
BEND, Ore.
(AP) — Dozens of homeless people who have been living in a national forest in central
Oregon
for years were being evicted Thursday by the
U.S. Forest Service
, as it closed the area for a wildfire prevention project that will involve removing smaller trees, clearing debris and setting controlled burns over thousands of acres.
The project has been on the books for years, and the decision to remove the encampment in the
Deschutes National Forest
comes two months after the Trump administration issued an executive order directing federal agencies to increase timber production and forest management projects aimed at reducing wildfire risk.
Deschutes National Forest
spokesperson
Kaitlyn Webb
said in an email that the closure order was “directly tied to the forest restoration work.” Homeless advocates, meanwhile, seized on the timing on Thursday as
U.S. Forest Service
officers blocked the access road.
“The fact that they are doing this with such vigor shortly after they announced that the forests would be opened up for logging I don’t think is a coincidence," said
Jesse Rabinowitz
, spokesperson for the
National Homelessness Law Center
.
The
U.S. Department of Agriculture
, which oversees the
U.S. Forest Service
, and the service’s
Pacific Northwest Region
did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment.
“The closure does not target any specific user group and will restrict all access, including day use and overnight camping, while crews operate heavy machinery, conduct prescribed burns, and clean up hazardous materials,” Webb said. “It’s not safe for the public to be in the area while heavy machinery is operating, trees are being felled, mowing operations are active, and prescribed burning is occurring.”
Campers who had set up trailers, recreational vehicles and tents amidst the ponderosa pines in the forest scrambled in the darkness Wednesday night to pack up and get their engines working again. Authorities closed the two-lane road in the early hours of Thursday morning, and it wasn’t immediately clear how many people were left in the forest by the afternoon, though some were unable to leave.
The U.S. Forest Service
has been working for years on plans to close part of the
Deschutes National Forest
near
Bend
for forest restoration and wildfire mitigation. But the number of people living in that part of the forest has grown, with many losing homes during the coronavirus pandemic due to job losses and high housing costs, Rabinowitz said.
The wildfire mitigation effort
President Donald Trump’s administration has acted to roll back environmental safeguards around future logging projects on more than half of
U.S.
national forests, under an emergency designation that cites dangers from wildfires.
Whether the administration's move will boost lumber supplies as Trump envisioned in an executive order he signed in March remains to be seen. Former President Joe Biden’s administration also sought more logging in public forests to combat fires, which have become more intense amid drier and hotter conditions linked to climate change, yet
U.S. Forest Service
timber sales stayed relatively flat under his tenure.
The Cabin Butte Vegetation Management Project
, a wildfire mitigation treatment on some 30,000 acres (12,000 hectares), is prompting the closures in the
Deschutes National Forest
.
The goal of the work is to reduce wildfire risk and restore damaged habitats where development encroaches on natural areas near
Bend
,
Deschutes National Forest
officials said in a statement. Recreation sites and trails in that area will be closed through April next year.
Multiple U.S. Forest Service
officials and vehicles were stationed at the Deschutes National Forest road closure on Thursday. A sign on the metal gate blocking the road said the temporary emergency closure will last at least one year.
Violators could face up to six months in jail, fines up to
$5,000
, or both.
Judge declines to block the closure
On Wednesday night,
Mandy Bryant
, who said she had lived in the encampment for about three years, was cleaning up her site and trying to get a trailer to start so she could move it.
“You could feel the heaviness in the air and just the stress and depression that people are feeling,” she told
The Associated Press
. “We’re up there on the list of groups of people that society doesn’t really care for.”
Four people living in the encampment including Bryant, along with two homeless advocates, filed for a restraining order to stop the closure. The claim argued it would cause irreparable harm to more than 100 people who were living there, many of whom have disabilities.
The government responded in court filings that
U.S. Forest Service
staff in January began notifying homeless people living in the area of the upcoming closure. Original plans for the project were published in 2019 and were authorized by the
U.S. Forest Service
in 2023, the court filings said.
U.S. District Court
Judge
Michael McShane
denied the restraining order on Tuesday and issued a written opinion on Thursday.
“The public’s significant interest in restoring natural habitats, preventing catastrophic wildfires, and preserving the overall health of
Deschutes National Forest
is not outweighed by the interest of 150 or so individuals in residing on this particular plot of land," he wrote in his ruling.
Webb, the
Deschutes National Forest
spokesperson, told The
Oregonian
/OregonLive that the government’s goal is “voluntary compliance,” but
Forest Service
officers and staff will patrol and “enforce the closure and ensure public safety.”
__
Rush reported from
Portland, Oregon
.
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