China Hat camp sweep pushes people living in vehicles to ‘Dirt World’ north of Bend

Published 4:54 pm Friday, May 2, 2025

By Clayton Franke

Thursday’s closure of China Hat Road southeast of Bend marked the largest single displacement of homeless people the region has ever seen, with more than 100 people leaving or in the process of leaving the forest where many lived for several years.

Dozens of people still haven’t left the area behind the closed gate on China Hat Road, facing up to $5,000 fines and jail time. The U.S. Forest Service, which facilitated the sweep to make way for a wildfire mitigation project, opened the gates for outreach workers and friends on missions to help tow or fix cars and RVs unable to leave the forest on their own.

But getting beyond the gate only presents a new set of challenges for the population of people living in vehicles. Some have moved to the streets of Bend, where rules against camping will keep them on the move, and while others have moved farther away from the city on public lands.

The only real option for some is to move to Juniper Ridge, or “Dirt World,” an encampment on public land owned by the city of Bend and Deschutes County north of Bend. It’s estimated there are roughly equally as many people living there as were in the China Hat Road area.

Nathan Tomlinson, a China Hat resident of several years, parked his car on the side of China Hat Road just outside of the closed gate on Thursday afternoon, trying to decide what to do next.

His brother and nephew were also living at China Hat. His brother took his camper trailer to a roadside pulloff 14 miles east of town along U.S. Highway 20.

Tomlinson said he’s on the waiting list for apartments in Bend. He said he was hesitant to move to the encampment north of Bend. He fears it could be more dangerous than China Hat.

But he figured that may be his only option.

“It’s really crowded,” he said. “And it’s about to get a lot worse, too.”

Not intended for new campers

After a cooking fire from a homeless encampment on private land at Juniper Ridge sparked an 80-acre blaze that nearly reached homes in north Bend last year, the city of Bend and Deschutes County agreed to consolidate and eventually close the camps at Juniper Ridge. That will begin when the agencies close nearly 1,000 acres of public land to camping east of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad tracks on May 31.

People living east of the tracks will have to relocate to a designated “temporary safe stay area” totalling 40 acres near U.S. Highway 97. The rules include prohibitions on fires, dumping and shelter building.

The city and county spent $1.1 million to increase case management services focused on getting people the help they need to get into housing. The city has reported 11 people have left the camp for shelter or housing since tracking began in February.

People will be able to camp in the designated safe stay area until the end of 2026.

The area is not intended as a place for people who have been displaced from China Hat or other areas, said Erik Kropp, deputy county administrator with Deschutes County.

“We are not tracking how many people have relocated from China Hat to the TSSA (safe stay area), but we are aware that it is occurring,” Kropp said in an email.

Megan Perkins, a Bend City Councilor, said because of increased services she believes the camp can absorb any extra residents.

Making the move

Patrick Mitchell drove his 22-foot motor home from China Hat to Juniper Ridge on Wednesday, the eve of the closure. He also wanted to move his Jeep from China Hat, but didn’t have enough gas money for the return trip, so he walked about 15 miles back to get it, he said.

He lives on about $1,250 per month in Social Security and disability.

“I can afford to rent a room or I can afford to eat,” Mitchell said. “Both is a little hard to do.”

He couldn’t have made the move without gift cards for gas and money for repairs to his motor home, which he got from a nonprofit service provider. That funding was coordinated through the Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council, a regional agency made up of local jurisdictions.

Tammy Baney, who leads the agency, was called to China Hat Road by a service provider Thursday morning to help coordinate last minute needs. Mostly, people needed car supplies like gas, batteries and tires to help them leave.

Baney said there was also money available for towing, but it was lightly used. The funds could only be used to tow a vehicle to a place where it was legally allowed to be.

They didn’t tow any cars to the streets of Bend, she said.

Jacob Larsen, a spokesperson for the city, said it has not had reports of an increase in vehicles camped on Bend streets as of Friday.

That’s not the case for other parts of the county, according to Deschutes County Sheriff Kent van der Kamp. He said his office has had reports from several homeowners about RVs showing up in their communities. Deputies also broke up an encampment that formed off of Rickard Road in southeast Bend. But there hasn’t been anything “outrageous or abnormal,” he said.

According to Baney, about 20 people have relocated to Juniper Ridge from China Hat so far.

Baney said she feels Thursday’s closure went “as well as possible,” but “there definitely were some gaps.”

“We have an opportunity to debrief and learn some lessons,” Baney said, adding that it would help to have a small “strike team” of people to provide resources in the final days of any relocation.

“We don’t want to make this worse for the community, and we also want to be in a space of compassionate relocation.”

As the closure approached on Wednesday afternoon, China Hat resident Cassie Griffee rushed to pack up her camp. She frantically called friends hoping to scrape together a deposit for a U-Haul trailer to help with the move.

She said she planned to move to the safe stay area at Juniper Ridge. There, she would be facing another move at the end of 2026.

“I’ll forever be homeless,” Griffee said. “I don’t want the stress of the bills and the mortgage. I get stressed enough as it is, I don’t want to add to it. It’s my choice to live this way. There’s nothing wrong with it.”

 

About Clayton Franke

Clayton Franke covers growth, development and transportation for The Bulletin. A graduate of the University of Oregon's School of Journalism and Communication, Clayton joined The Bulletin in 2024. He was born and raised in Missoula, Montana. He can be reached at 541-617-7854 or clayton.franke@bendbulletin.com.

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