Street Roots • Oct. 27-Nov. 2, 2017
News
Page 7
Advocates, park workers seek
solutions to illegal camping
BY EMILY GREEN
S T A F F W R IT E R
atural resource managers from
around the Pacific Northwest met
with environmental and homeless
advocates Monday to find ways to
collaborate on compassionate
solutions to the impacts of
homelessness on public lands
and in outdoor recreation areas.
The meeting at the NW
Natural building in Old Town
drew nearly 100 attendees.
In" a questionnaire prior to the
event, many regional public parks
and forest managers cited
concerns about perceived public
safety issues and environmental
degradation in areas where
people experiencing
homelessness camp.
Participants indicated they’d
seen encampments along
Johnson and Beaver creeks, near
the Columbia Slough and along
Springwater Trail, although
illegal camping in forests and parks is an
issue throughout the Pacific Northwest.
Participants described having came
across homeless encampments while
conducting wildlife surveys, leading volunteer
and student events, and performing other job
duties, at times in protected and sensitive
wildlife areas.
While some noted clean and well-kept
camps and homeless occupants who were
helpful in pointing out patches of invasive
species growing nearby, others cited
encounters where they were intimidated by
aggressive dogs or faced people having
mental health issues that they were unsure
how to handle.
During roundtable discussions, many parks
and forests employees expressed frustrations
with feeling intrusive or threatened during
interactions with people living in camps on
public lands, as well as difficulties with angry
neighbors and concerned constituents who
call and complain about campers when there
are no solutions they can offer to ease their
angst.
The event drew dozens of land managers
and field workers ranging from the lower to
upper portions of the Willamette Basin and
beyond, including from the Eugene, Corvallis,
Vancouver, Seaside, Olympia and greater
Portland metropolitan areas.
Also in attendance were employees at
Multnomah County, Port of Portland,
Portland Parks and Recreation and Bureau of
Environmental Services. They were joined by
Right to Survive, Willamette Riverkeeper,
Bonneville Environmental Foundation and
Portland Harbor Community Coalition, which
all helped organize the forum and presented
N
Regional
stakeholders
hope to work
together to
address the
impacts o f
homeless people
living in public
parks and
forests
at it.
(Full disclosure: The advocacy arm of
Street Roots was also involved, and Street
Roots Executive Director Israel Bayer spoke
at the event about factors that led to
P H O T O B Y D A M IE N B L A K E L E Y /C O U R T E S Y O F SISTER S O F T H E R O A D
Oregon’s housing crisis.)
A presentation from Mandy Davis, director
of Trauma Informed Oregon, tied trauma-
informed care to approaching people
experiencing homelessness. She taught
attendees about the many traumas campers
are statistically likely to have experienced and
how to avoid triggering negative responses
when approaching encampments.
They also heard from homeless advocates
and from people who are finding ways to
connect people experiencing homelessness to
resources while cleaning up natural areas.
For example, Michelle Emmons of
Willamette Riverkeeper shared with the
group how her organization’s River Guardians
Program in the Eugene-Springfield area is
resolving both environmental and homeless
issues at the same time.
Volunteers with the program receive
trauma-informed training, and they offer
garbage bags and disposal services to people
living in camps they encounter while cleaning
up areas along the Willamette River. They
also provide strategically located needle and
waste drop-off sites.
Emmons explained it not only activates and
engages the community on issues around
homelessness but also provides a clean and
safe environment while increasing campers’
access to resources.
Katie Kalpakis, with the city of Portland’s
Homelessness and Urban Camping Impact
Reduction, pointed to a pilot project she
initiated involving mobile flush toilets that are
staffed by social service agency employees
who serve as connection to services when
people come to use the toilet. The idea
originated when Kalpakis said she was
shocked by widespread reports of human
waste on public property due to a lack of
facilities for people living on the streets.
The daylong meeting concluded with
participants tossing out new ideas that
included programs to train campers on
habitat restoration and park maintenance,
providing them with a pathway that could
lead toward employment and, ultimately,
housing.
They also discussed collaborating in areas
where multiple agencies have jurisdiction to
provide campers with garbage and sanitation
services.
Pooling their lobbying power with
environmental and housing advocacy groups
in Salem and continuing to partner on finding
solutions, were also ideas on the table.
Many natural-area employees from more
rural areas and Salem lamented that
conversations around these issues were not
happening where they live. They supported
bringing trauma-informed training and
collaboration between agencies and advocacy
groups to discussions at their local
government agencies.
Bringing training and collaboration to
those rural areas will be one of the next steps
taken, Bonneville Environmental Foundation’s
Kathleen Guillozet, the lead organizer of the
event, said after the meeting.
She plans to organize the ideas collected at
the event and present them to the offices of
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler and
Commissioner Amanda Fritz, who oversees
the Portland Parks and Recreation bureau.
Guillozet said she also plans to apply for
grants that will fund the on-the-ground
materialization of some of the collaborative
ideas that were expressed.
L ast winter, Sisters
O f The Road
provided people
experiencing
homelessness with
photography classes
and disposable
cameras so that
they could
document their
lives for a project
called “Through
O ur Lens. ” These
photos were on
display at M onday’s
event at N W
Natural. This photo
depicts the campsite
o f a participant,
Phoebe 0., who was
sleeping ju st off
some trails in a
wooded area o f
Southwest
Portland. She is
also a Street Roots
vendor.