La Pine officials warn of rising wildfire threat

Published 5:45 am Tuesday, August 5, 2025

Encampments on nearby BLM land have sparked repeated fires, prompting pleas for federal help

After multiple fires on the outskirts of La Pine, officials say threats loom large for the community and more federal help is needed to prevent a devastating wildfire sparked on public lands.

Three large fires near Darlene Road and several smaller ones since 2021 have prompted urgent action by local, state and federal authorities. Geoff Wullschlager, La Pine’s city manager, says regional partners have taken steps to mitigate the threat but risk looms.

At the center of the problem in La Pine is unauthorized homeless encampments in the forest on Bureau of Land Management land close to the city. Last year, the human-cased Darlene 3 fire burned nearly 4,000 acres, and smaller fires in the areas have also burned this year.

“We’re always concerned. I’ve been here almost five years and there’s been three major conflagrations that have been knocking on the back door of my neighborhood,” said Wullschlager, referring to the Darlene 1, 2 and 3 fires.

“But my concern is more about the sanctity of the city than my own personal home because if my home goes that means hundreds of other people’s homes will have gone, if not thousands. That is just something we live with,” he added.

The focus of attention is Rosland Road, east of the city, where BLM land abuts private and city owned land. At least two human-cased fires have recently erupted near the road, within 1.5 miles of each other. The most recent one, the Jolene Fire, received rapid response from sheriff’s deputies and fire crews and was extinguished before it could spread widely.

The city of La Pine now works closely with a group of agencies including the BLM and the U.S. Forest Service to mitigate fire risk in the area.

Wullschlager said the city is limited in what it can do because these fires are flaring up on lands outside their jurisdiction. But some work has been accomplished where possible — since the 2021 Darlene 1 fire, which burned several homes, the city has spent $35,000 to install barricades on private property to cut off access to encampment areas.

Services offered

There has also been engagement with those living in the forest. Fire extinguishers and fire blankets are distributed in hopes that they can prevent fires that start in the camps. The work also includes efforts with social services to help people move out of the area and into permanent housing and a more stable living environment.

“We have had a lot of success. We’ve got a lot of those people to move out of there and they have moved on to more stabilized environments,” said Wullschlager.

Sheriff’s deputies also routinely visit the area for wellness checks and to offer options for other places to live. Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council has also lent support and recently removed 11 abandoned vehicles from the area, Wullschlager said.

“So we are approaching this from a number of different ways. We are putting in deterrence. We are providing resources to folks out there to mitigate fire if one starts. We’re cleaning up the mess that has been created,” said Wullschlager.

Much of the effort is coordinated by the Newberry Regional Partnership, a non-profit founded in 2022 to address community growth in south Deschutes County. The partnership conducted a homeless camp clean up earlier this summer.

Camping on BLM land for more than 14 days is prohibited but removing individuals has proven difficult. After a citation is issued, a U.S. Attorney’s office is needed for enforcement.

Western States’ issue

Wullschlager said La Pine has asked the BLM to close the area to camping but was told that financial resources to conduct a closure are not available. La Pine has responded with an ask from the Prineville BLM district office for more resources. He believes more can be done at the federal level to submit requests for more funding from Congress.

“This is a Western states’ issue. We are seeing this happen not just in Oregon and Washington and Idaho but in Utah and California and Nevada as well. This is a public safety emergency in my opinion.”

Lisa Clark, field manager with Prineville BLM, said the agency has conducted a “a pretty aggressive” fuels reduction program in the area for more than two decades. An environmental assessment is currently underway to determine if all acres have been appropriately treated.

The BLM also brought in a fire prevention team recently to engage with the public and provide the local office with data and direction for wildfire mitigation. Staffing changes are also planned to increase fire prevention patrols.

Clark said there are no plans for an eviction of people living in the forest and the agency lacks the “exact eviction authority” to do so. But it is working with partners to offer services to those in homeless camps. They have helped coordinate three large clean-ups.

Complicated task

Completely shutting down the forest and removing people would be complicated, Clark said. And keeping people out would be difficult.

“We don’t have an easy way to block off anything. There are no gates that we can close or put up and block that area. And we would be removing access from many people in La Pine to areas that they may go walk, hunt, ride their ATVs, whatever they may be doing in the area,” she said.

While evictions of people in the forest aren’t part of the current wildfire mitigation plan, the BLM has declared a fire ban on its lands within a one mile radius of La Pine, which is in place from late-April to mid-October. But enforcement of the law has been challenging due to limited numbers of law enforcement patrolling thousands of square miles of land.

While a complete closure appears difficult, Wullschlager thinks is a closure of BLM lands within a mile of La Pine for overnight use has potential for implementation. He is also asking the local BLM office to be more aggressive in advocating for funds that the community can use to deal with wildfire mitigation. He doesn’t think these actions will impact the way local residents use the forest.

“People could still go out there for recreation but we want the overnight use to be closed because that would prohibit camping,” he said. ““That is where these issues seem to be coming from.”