Deschutes County residents press commissioners for urgent action after Rickard Road encampments

Residents and neighbors of several encampments southeast of Bend told the Deschutes County Board of Commissioners on May 5 that they are alarmed by recent illegal camping on county parcels and urged faster action to clear sites and prevent reoccupation.

Tom Dimon, a resident who said his property backs the Rickard Road tax lot, told the board he and a community group of roughly 200 neighbors have documented needles, smoldering campfires and piles of garbage since campers moved onto the county parcel. "Fear, anxiety, and anger are universal human emotions," Dimon said, and asked the board to set a firm timeline for closure and post-clearing controls, including signage, perimeter fencing and stepped-up sheriff—s patrols.

The call for immediate action came amid a larger discussion about the results of recent clearings at China Hat Road. County officials and multiple speakers warned that removing camps from one site without established pathways into housing can displace people into other unauthorized locations. Commissioner Adair summarized that approach bluntly: "we've been dealing this for with this for a couple years now," and said the county has been trying to build pathways out of homelessness even as capacity remains insufficient.

Why it matters

Speakers voiced two overlapping concerns: public-safety risks from fires and hazardous debris on or near private…