Troutdale, Oregon — If you ever needed proof that government can burn through your money faster than a Portland riot eats through plywood, here it is.
The Oregon Department of State Lands (DSL) — the agency responsible for managing land to generate revenue for schools — just torched more than $50,000 on a failed cleanup of homeless camps at the Sandy River Delta. The kicker? Not only did the camps remain, but contractors managed to rack up ATV damage and bill the state for it.
According to records obtained by KATU, contractors NW HazMat and NW Enforcement lasted less than a week before chaos broke out. Videos show clashes between camp residents and workers, including contractors apparently using bear spray on people. The situation spiraled so badly that Governor Tina Kotek stepped in to pause the cleanup altogether.
Yes, you read that right: half a hundred grand gone, and the camps are still there.
Meanwhile, law enforcement stayed far away. Both Oregon State Police and the Multnomah County Sheriff declined involvement, emails show. That didn’t stop DSL from plowing ahead anyway, even though the money wasted could have gone to — you know — actual schools via the Common School Fund.
To make matters worse, NW HazMat’s invoice revealed they only managed to remove about 21 tons of trash. DSL estimates there’s closer to 200–300 tons of garbage out there. Translation: they barely scratched the surface before pulling out.
And guess what? Restarting the cleanup will cost even more, because the security contractor says it’ll need to re-incur startup costs — training, licensing, and outfitting workers all over again. Taxpayer waste on repeat.
Troutdale’s city manager says the problem has been festering for decades and warns that wildfires often spark in the camps. In fact, just last week firefighters had to retreat and let camp residents extinguish a blaze themselves because crews couldn’t safely access the site.
So here’s where we’re at:
- Tens of thousands wasted.
- Zero cleanup accomplished.
- Hundreds of tons of garbage left in the forest.
- Camps growing, not shrinking.
- And a state government that calls this “resiliency.”
But hey, at least someone is getting a new ATV.
