As those who’ve seen our previous posts already know, we have an ongoing effort to clean up and reclaim the area along the East bank of Sandy River that has been plagued with transient camps.  Strewn with trash and debris from years of these illegal camps, the area has understandably been avoided by Delta users for safety reasons.

In two different visits, we cleaned up multiple sites just yards from Jordan road.  The first site, known since last December, had been recently occupied complete with a framed structure.  We found at least two additional abandoned and trash strewn sites immediately adjacent, and yet another four sites nearby.

On Saturday February 1st we focused on the first group of sites and in 4 hours, we were able to bag and haul out about half the debris to the dumpster.  We stacked the remaining trash at the site for our next visit.

February 16th we went to finish the job and to clean up the additional sites.  In the end we had 30 heavy bags of trash, a mattress, and a pile of scrap metal.  We loaded about 10 bags into the dumpster (nearly empty after the snowy weekend), and we left the remaining 20 or more bag and other scrap in an accessible location off the road.

Our intent was to haul the additional trash to the dumpster over multiple trips, but we had the welcome help from Deputy Joe Graziano the Corbett Community Resource Officer from the MCSO, and Dave Thomson, the Code Enforcement officer from The Multnomah County Health Department.  These two officers pitched in by hauling the remaining bags from the area.  We can’t thank them enough for the help they’ve given us in the last few months.

With these efforts, the area is fast becoming a safe place to hike, and we encourage Delta visitors to begin using this area.  With increased use by responsible visitors these camps will be less likely to reestablish.   Of course, if you notice any activity, please notify us.

Please see the photos below

Thanks

Jeff, and the Delta volunteers.

One Camp as we found it

An Adjacent site

Cleaned up

Another Cleaned Site

There is a little fun to the day

After wrapping up the second work outing

We filled the Dumpster

Separated the metal

And still had a lot to haul away

With a little help from the county we had the trash hauled away

And they even had the opportunity to talk to a camper