Crowding into ‘Dirt World’: Bend Homeless camp swells as closures displace more people

Published 5:45 am Thursday, May 29, 2025

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Fernando Rodriguez, 25, works for Interstate Business Solutions, an Indiana-based company that is contracted through the Oregon Department of Transportation to clean trash off Oregon’s highways. (Mia Maldonado / Oregon Capital Chronicle)

Randall Fry lost his leg in an accidental fire at his camp in “Dirt World” north of Bend. 05/27/25 (Dean Guernsey/The Bulletin)

A sign on a camper in the “fishbowl” in “Dirt World” north of Bend. 05/27/25 (Dean Guernsey/The Bulletin)

A figurine at a camp in the “fishbowl” in “Dirt World” north of Bend. 05/27/25 (Dean Guernsey/The Bulletin)

Kurt Axell takes a break from repairing the roof on his camp in “Dirt World” north of Bend. 05/27/25 (Dean Guernsey/The Bulletin)

Andrew Tomlinson ponders his future at his camp in “Dirt World” north of Bend. 05/27/25 (Dean Guernsey/The Bulletin)

A tattered flag flys at Abrian Reiten’s camp in “Dirt World” north of Bend. 05/27/25 (Dean Guernsey/The Bulletin)

Abrian Reiten talks about his recent move from China Hat while filling a water tank in “Dirt World” north of Bend. 05/27/25 (Dean Guernsey/The Bulletin)

Deschutes County and the city of Bend have formed plans to remove homeless campers from the swath of dusty High Desert just north of the city along U.S. Highway 97 on several occasions. None have come to fruition.

The current plan is to close the entire 1,350-acre area, Juniper Ridge, to camping by the end of 2026, as service providers work to connect more and more people with housing or shelter.

But for now, “Dirt World” will only become more crowded.

That’s partially because the city will close a large portion of the lands to camping starting on Saturday, moving a few dozen campers who were spread out across hundreds of acres bordering rural housing and lands slated for industrial development to a 170-acre parcel near the highway designated as a “temporary safe stay area.” That closure is working in tandem with removal of a group of campers from a 45-acre Bureau of Land Management parcel bordering Juniper Ridge to the north.

It’s the second large camp closure in as many months following the sweep of the China Hat Road area in the Deschutes National Forest. The U.S. Forest Service closed that area to camping on May 1, displacing 100-200 people.

The sweeps amount to a crackdown on homeless encampments across unincorporated lands of Deschutes County as officials seek to curb the side effects of years without control over the homelessness on government-owned lands.

At a meeting in September, when the Bend City Council and Deschutes County Commission jointly approved the plans to phase out camping at Juniper Ridge, officials estimated about 200 people were living in the area, with 70-80 camps west of the railroad tracks and fewer than 20 in the closure area to the east.

Amy Fraley, the city’s homelessness services coordinator, said Wednesday fewer than 12 camps remain in the closure area east of the railroad tracks, and service providers have been working with people in the area.

“Clean up and restoration in this area has already begun and the closure will be enforced,” Fraley said in an email.

Suzannah Burke, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Land Management, said people have relocated from the 45-acre federal parcel to the safe stay area, but vehicles and tents still remain. The agency is forming a plan for when people can return to get their stuff and when cleanup will begin.

Moving camps

Some people have lived at Juniper Ridge for as long as 10 years. Until last month, that was the case for Randall Fry, a 65-year-old with sun-bleached blonde hair and a gray beard. The bottom part of his right leg was amputated earlier this year after an accident involving a space heater left irreparable damage. The injury propelled him to the top of the waiting list for housing and shelter, and he was able to move into the Stepping Stone transitional shelter in Bend, which opened in 2023.

City of Bend data indicate 11 people have moved out of Juniper Ridge into shelter or housing since January, but the real number is likely higher because of a lag in reporting, Fraley said.

City and county funding has sent more support to Juniper Ridge than ever before in the form of outreach workers who provide help with basic needs and focus on getting campers into housing or shelter. Providing that support has become easier as government actions confine campers to a smaller space, said Kathleen Leppert, an outreach worker with shelter provider Central Oregon Villages, one of the groups who received grants to increase presence at Juniper Ridge.

Leppert said she was afraid of losing contact with her clients at China Hat after the closure there. Seeing a group of them arrive at Juniper Ridge in the past few weeks has been a relief.

Andrew Tomlinson left China Hat for vacant land near the Bend Airport, but said he was quickly forced to leave by the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office. Meanwhile, the sheriff’s office prevented the establishment of camps on vacant land about seven miles east of Bend, and the county set daytime closures of land where people might be keen to camp.

“We finally just decided to come here,” said Tomlinson, who lives among a small circle of trailers at Juniper Ridge formed by former China Hat residents, including his brother, Nathan. “We were told nightmarish stories about this area … it made it hard to come here. But when we got here, the people are nice. Everybody’s helpful. Nothing bad has happened at all. It’s been a big relief off of our stress level because it was already stressful enough having to move everything.”

Kurt Axell, a 72-year-old Navy veteran with chronic back pain, has lived at Juniper Ridge for two years in a shelter he made of rock walls, logs, tarps and metal. He lives inside what’s known as “the fishbowl,” a ring of towering rock walls encircling a cluster of camps. Walking outside the fishbowl one day he was surprised to find the juniper forest had become more crowded.

He has been homeless for 16 years, and has lived in most of the major homeless encampments in the Bend area, including China Hat Road and Hunnell Road, which was swept by the city of Bend in 2023.

Fire and other risks

An increased risk of human-caused wildfire has accompanied the growing number of people at Juniper Ridge. That was on display last summer, when a cooking fire in a homeless camp started an 80-acre blaze that swept through the trees and brush and nearly burned neighborhoods in north Bend. It prompted elected officials to adopt plans to close the area. Deschutes County recently completed a vegetation reduction project meant to reduce wildfire risk during the upcoming season.

Unlike China Hat Road, Juniper Ridge is serviced with dumpsters, toilets and potable water. Additional security guards were added last fall. The city and county recently adopted new rules for the area, including banning construction of shelters and open flames.

“Any action causing damage or injury, including threats to physical safety, will result in removal from the (area),” a sign posted at Juniper Ridge reads.

Despite the new rules and increased security, Desire Gross, a mother of three young children, said she’s worried about safety risks of living in close proximity to strangers. She said her family found security in their trailer on the far northern portion of Juniper Ridge, but the upcoming federal land closure is forcing her to relocate closer to other people just as it’s getting more crowded with new faces.

“You never know who you’re going to be living next to,” Gross said.

And more new faces may be arriving soon. The Deschutes County Commission is mulling its options for dealing with encampments across large swaths of juniper forest east of Redmond. Some could be accommodated by a new managed camp the county hopes to construct in Redmond by the fall.

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Land Management is working to thwart new encampments on other federal lands between Bend and Redmond by placing large boulders on access roads.

Living on public streets in Bend has become more difficult in recent years as the city has adopted new rules restricting time and place for camping.

The new safe stay area has quickly become the only place in Deschutes County where people without shelter are allowed to live. The designated area was not set up as a place for people outside of Juniper Ridge to move to other than the people relocating from east of the railroad tracks. But the county and city are not restricting new people from entering the area.

“We have services there, and when other areas are shut down, people are going to show up,” said Leppert, the service provider.

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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