Displaced China Hat campers reeling as their belongings become U.S. property

While the U.S. Forest Service touts efforts as 'success,' a growing number of campers say their phone calls and emails have been ignored.

Video provided by Central Oregon Daily in partnership with Homelessness: Real Stories, Real Solutions.

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By DAVID DUDLEY

FORJournalism Lab

Several campers who were displaced from the China Hat area in May allege that the U.S. Forest Service has failed to facilitate the return of personal belongings ranging from RVs to an urn containing the cremains of one man's wife.

The 90-day grace period to retrieve personal belongings expired on Aug. 1. Many of the campers who left the China Hat area have moved to Juniper Ridge in Bend.

U.S. Forest Service spokesperson Jaimie Olle told FORJournalism that rangers "fielded more than 30 requests to reclaim abandoned property since May."

Patrick Walston pauses while talking about his inability to recover belongings from his former campsite in the China Hat area. Photo by Joe Kline.

The items left behind include "vehicles, furniture, tires, and scrap metal to every-day-living items such as tents, propane tanks, sleeping bags, pots and pans, trash, and hazardous materials," Olle said.

When asked what will happen to unclaimed items, Olle said it's U.S. property as of Aug. 1.

"Impounded property that is not redeemed becomes the property of the United States and may be retained by the Forest Service for official use, sold at public sale to the highest bidder, or otherwise disposed of," she said.

While Olle said rangers had helped a number of former China Hat campers retrieve some of their items, a growing number of those campers say multiple requests went unanswered.

'It's not right'

Mandy Bryant was among the campers who were displaced by the sweep. She said that she began calling the Forest Service within a week of relocating. Bryant said she called multiple times as the months passed. She began reaching out to her former neighbors to ask about their experiences.

"The main thing I've heard, is that people are calling but not receiving responses," Bryant said. "The other things I hear a lot, is that people have given up because they never received any kind of response.

Zack Polton sits at his campsite off China Hat Road outside Bend. “The biggest enemy of the moment is my own mind,” Polton said, discussing how he feels stressed by the coming U.S. Forest Service sweep. Photo by Joe Kline

"To me," she continued, "that shows that they never intended to call anyone back. It's like they're stealing from these vulnerable people. It's just not right."

Zack Polton lived in his school bus just off the road. Polton said that he had tried to reach the Forest Service multiple times, but he hadn't received a response.

Then, while browsing Facebook Marketplace, he said he saw some items that looked eerily familiar.

"I saw a bunch of stuff from my campsite on there," Polton said. "I can't tell whether it's the Forest Service that's advertising, or thieves. It's hard to keep myself from running out there and grabbing my stuff, you know?"

Polton said that the number the Forest Service provided goes straight to voicemail. The lack of response feeds into Polton's anxiety about losing his things, which include a pair of bicycles, a set of wheels and tires, a generator, axes, and a collection of tools Polton used to earn money doing side jobs.

"I need a lot of that stuff to survive," Polton said. "I've been calling two, three times a day. But it feels like they're not even listening.

"To watch these things start to walk away, after they told us they would be patrolling the area, feels like a slap in the face," he added after a pause.

Mark Jenkins stands outside his campsite off China Hat Road ahead of the May 1 deadline to leave. “This ain’t an easy life out here man,” Jenkins said. Photo by Joe Kline

A bunch of criminals

Polton's former neighbor, Mark Jenkins, shared a similar story in July. Standing in the dog run at Cleveland Commons, Jenkins said he's tried to reach the Forest Service at the number provided since May.

"They let me in once," Jenkins said, "to get a pickup truck. But even then, they rushed me, so I couldn't get most of my other things."

Aware of the Aug. 1 deadline to retrieve his remaining items  — which include a fifth-wheel camper, a pair of generators, tools, and a 250-gallon water tank he used for pressure washing — Jenkins said he had given up.

"They made us walk away from all of our stuff," Jenkins said. "It's not secure. We keep losing things out there."

Jenkins, a formerly homeless man who scrapes by on a fixed income, said that he feels cheated by the Forest Service.

"We did what they asked, we left by their deadline," he said. "But they've done nothing to help us get our things back. It's okay, I guess, because we're just a bunch of criminals, right?"

Jenkins shook his head in disbelief and fixed his eyes on the horizon.

"I'm trying to get settled, to adjust to life after living in the woods," he said. "But the stress and grief from this whole thing has made many of my health problems worse."

Known for being heartless

Abrian Reiten moved to the China Hat area more than two years ago after a divorce left him without a home. Though he works full-time as a janitor, he can't afford to rent in Deschutes County, where he works.

Abrian Reiten pauses while discussing the difficulties he’s faced while trying to recover some of his belongings he left at his former campsite in the China Hat area. Photo by Joe Kline.

When rangers swept China Hat on May 1, Reiten said he was compelled to leave many of his things behind, before moving to Juniper Ridge. As he and his girlfriend tried to get settled into their new camp, Reiten said they were unable to find various items they use in their daily lives.

"We were trying to get out by the deadline," Reiten said. "We were just jamming stuff into totes. We were packing our whole lives — tools, silverware, flashlights, you name it — into totes."

Reiten said he misses those things, but he realized one day that some irreplaceable items are stuffed inside some of the totes that remain behind the gate.

"All of the pictures I had of my kids are somewhere in those totes," he said. "I haven't seen my kids in years, as the result of my divorce. They're both grown and out on their own.

"There's no replacing those pictures," he added after a pause. "I was calling every day, then every week, then I just gave up. It's like kicking a dead horse."

Patrick Walston said that the Forest Service lied to him to get him to leave the China Hat area. He was still there three days after the May 1 deadline to move.

A U.S. Forest Service law enforcement officer closes the gate on China Hat Road after allowing a vehicle to enter on the morning of the May 1 closure of the area. Photo by Joe Kline.

"They told me that, if I left, I could return to the gate to get my things," Walston told FORJ. "It didn't happen. They lied to me, just to get me out of there without incident."

The 52-year-old Walston said he lost many of the same things his former neighbors had — an RV, camper trailers, utility trailers, tools. He'd parked a 32-foot camper trailer just outside the gate, where rangers could see it.

"And it disappeared," said Walston. "They let someone walk off with it. They said they'd patrol the area, and protect our stuff, but stealing has been rampant back there. The Forest Service should be liable for letting things get stolen."

Walston said Forest Service rangers later escorted him to his camp, where his RV was still parked.

"They gave me a 24-hour notice," he said. "I wasn't even halfway finished replacing the tires when the ranger said, 'Okay, it's time to go.'"

Walston said rangers began requiring that vehicles must be registered if they're to be driven out of the area. Barring that, he said they also required certified tow truck drivers to tow vehicles from the area, creating an obstacle that many of the area's former campers struggled to pass.

Vehicles line the shoulder of China Hat Road on the morning of the closure of the area. Several former campers had their vehicles in need of repair towed outside the gate prior to the closure so they could fix them and determine where they would go. Photo by Joe Kline.

Walston said the ordeal has been distressing, but there's one thing that's still locked behind the gate that he can't let go.

"My wife's ashes are still out there in that RV," he said. "All those other things can be replaced. But Rachel's ashes can't."

Walston was referring to his former wife, Rachel Wood, who died at 35 from cancer-related complications. 

"It's terrible, and it's stupid," Walston added. "I mean, the government is known for being heartless, and this kind of thing just proves the point."

A new normal takes shape

Dr. Beth Shinn, a research professor and Chair of the Department of Human and Organizational Development at Vanderbilt University, says this is part of a disturbing trend that may only get worse. Shinn studies ways to prevent and end homelessness, while using research to shape social policy.

"The Grants Pass ruling by the supreme court has cleared the way to criminalize homelessness," Shinn said via phone. "They've made it illegal to sleep outside, even when there's no shelter space."

More recently, President Donald Trump's executive order from July 24 encourages municipalities to remove homeless people from the streets. Those people would then be placed in "long-term institutional settings for humane treatment through the use of civil commitment," according to the order, entitled "Ending Crime and Disorder on America's Streets."

A closure notice is posted to a tree near a campsite off China Hat Road in southeast Bend in March. Photo by Joe Kline.

Criminalizing homelessness means that authorities can take everything an unhoused person owns, which, in addition to the filing of criminal charges, makes it harder for those people to find viable solutions to the problems that pushed them into homelessness.

Shinn said that the loss of medication, documents (driver's licences, birth certificates and social security cards), clothing and other personal belongings worsens the crises many unhoused people experience.

"Losing those things makes it harder to secure housing," said Shinn. "It makes it harder to receive assistance like housing subsidies and SNAP benefits. It makes it harder to earn a living. It's inhumane to separate people from everything they own."

Homelessness: Real Stories, Real Solutions (realstoriesrealsolutions.org) is a journalism lab funded by Central Oregon Health Council under FORJournalism (forjournalism.org), an Oregon nonprofit dedicated to supporting journalism statewide. Sign up for weekly newsletters to receive updates.