The U.S. Forest Service has delayed plans to repave China Hat Road, which leads south out of Bend city limits into the Deschutes National Forest, until later in the year.

The three-and-a-half-mile repaving project was initially scheduled to begin in July, but contractor availability caused Forest Service officials to push the start date to August, said Kaitlyn Webb, public affairs officer for the national forest. Webb declined to release the name of the contractor.

China Hat Road becomes Forest Road 18 once it enters the forest boundary. It has deteriorated over the years due to high use, warranting fresh asphalt. The road provides vital access to recreation and resource management. Forest land near the road has become home to hundreds of people experiencing homelessness, according to some estimates — though an official account does not yet exist.

The paving project will close both lanes of traffic between the forest boundary to Forest Road 1810, or Bessie Butte Road, for public safety, according to the Forest Service. Officials recommend the public avoid the area until construction is complete.

During construction, Forest Road 1815, or Horse Butte Road, will act as a detour. Areas on either side of Forest Road 18 will be inaccessible during construction, the Forest Service said.

Homelessness on forestland

The repaving is just one piece of a nearly 26,000-acre, multi-year project that will eventually lead to thinning, brush clearing and prescribed burns in the areas where campers are staying long-term. It’s called the Cabin Butte Vegetation Management Project.

“The Cabin Butte project will improve forest resilience against large-scale disturbance events such as high-intensity wildfire, damaging insects and disease while decreasing wildfire risk to Bend,” the Forest Service wrote in an overview of the repaving project.

The Forest Service does not have the authority to remove people from forestland. Instead, Forest Service law enforcement officers can write citations for sanitation and for exceeding the 14-day limit on camping, but that’s as far as their authority extends.

In the past 20 years, the Forest Service has issued more than 1,200 citations for sanitation or occupancy and use violations in the Forest Road 18 area, according to information obtained by The Bulletin through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Of those, 1,090 citations were for occupancy violations and 152 citations were for sanitation violations.

More Information

Forest Service work won’t force out campers near China Hat Road…yet

The Forest Service last attempted to move people from Deschutes National Forest land en masse in 2022 after facing pressure from neighboring private property owners. But the effort was ineffective.

Neighbor pressure has persisted, which has translated into intensified pressure on elected officials to address homelessness.