Two residents worry about future, pets

Workers from the Oregon Department of Transportation plan to clear vegetation and remove the remnants of a homeless camp Thursday morning behind Home Depot off Northeast Circle Boulevard in Corvallis.

Their action would happen 18 days after a nearby homeless camp was cleared out off Highway 99W just south of Circle Boulevard. The first camp had 12 residents.

The camp behind Home Depot had two remaining residents on Monday, when ODOT officials gave them three days to evacuate, said ODOT spokesman Joe Harwood. Residents at the first camp received posted written notice 10 days before ODOT workers started clearing the area. ODOT also enlisted the aid of the Corvallis Police Department to make sure people left the camp.

With only two people left in the second camp, Harwood said, there was no need for advance written notice or police assistance this time. "We put a lot of effort at the first camp, but the folks we talked to today (at the second camp) were very much aware this was coming," he said.

One of the remaining residents was Keith Baker. He said he's not worried about himself. "Right now what I'm worried about is these cats," he said. "There are about four or five of them." As for him, Baker said, he'll roll with the punches.

"Every day is a new day at the homeless camp," he said. "Everything changes."

Harwood said he's pleased with the cooperation shown by the Baker and the camp residents who quickly moved on. "We don't have an issue with these people, except for the mess they've left behind," he said.

Harwood said that mess is considerable.

"There's quite a bit of garbage around this second camp," he said. "There are dead rats everywhere and buckets of human waste."

Work at the first camp is substantially complete, Harwood said. Workers reportedly removed more than 100,000 pounds of trash and have leveled much of the vegetation.

Some people have expressed concerned that both campsites are wetlands, and ODOT's activities violate the protections afforded such areas. Julie Curtis, communications director for the Oregon Department of State Lands, said that depends on the nature of what ODOT is doing.

If workers were clearing away vegetation, it doesn't matter whether or not the areas are wetlands. They have a right to clear vegetation on ODOT property. If, however, they are significantly altering the land itself, Curtis said that's an entirely different matter.

Harwood said removing the homeless camp can only help the environment. "If don't know if these are protected wetlands or not," said Harwood, "but hopefully the ground will heal and return to a more natural state."

As for Baker, he said he'll just keep moving. That's life when you're homeless, he said. "I'll just move on. I always have a Plan B. Once I got down to Plan F."