HASSO HERING

This was a camp site on First Lake outside Talking Water Gardens in February 2026.

Restoring Simpson Park and the surrounding area after many years of occupation by improvised camps is a huge job that will likely take a month or more.

To handle the job, the city hired a company that has handled such things before: Apex Property Clearing and Recycling. The cost estimate is $197,000. (More on that below.)

On Monday the Linn County Sheriff’s evicted the last of the people who had been camping in the sprawling area along the Willamette River and First Lake, outside Albany’s Talking Water Gardens.

Albany has a conservation easement on the site, still owned by the Simpson Timber Co. In 1997, the easement allowed for the designation of undeveloped Simpson Park.

The easement obligates Albany to take care of the acreage. This is why the city is paying for the cleanup, which started Tuesday.

The last time I saw the area was in February, when there were several trash-strewn camp sites just outside Talking Water Gardens, Albany’s now dormant system of additional wastewater treatment.

I wasn’t there for the Simpson Park evictions or the start of the cleanup. So I asked the city of Albany for an explanation.

In response, Parks and Recreation Director Kim Lyddane sent me this extensive statement:

Although there is a long history of illegal camping and drug use on Simpson Timber Company’s property in Millersburg, the number and severity of incidents resulting from drug related behaviors have been increasing, posing unique challenges due to the realities of the location and the nature of the incidents. The City of Albany is utilizing opioid settlement funds to support targeted outreach and environmental mitigation at the site to include:

— Improving visibility for emergency responders and outreach teams.
— Reducing hazardous debris and concealed areas.
— Helping individuals onsite with available behavioral health, substance use, and housing resources.

The opioid settlement funds can only be used for specific drug related prevention, treatment, and recovery strategies and could not be used to pay for other city services/infrastructure (i.e. roads). The allocation of the money towards this project is not taking away resources from other City services. The environmental mitigation is estimated to take up to one month.

The City regularly works with Apex Property Clearing & Recycling on camp clean-ups, and as such they will be the contractor for this project. The estimate for the project is approximately $197,000. This includes:

♦ Debris removal services are intended to reduce hazardous environmental conditions associated with high-risk opioid use activity by removing discarded drug paraphernalia, syringes, human waste, garbage, and concealed debris throughout the site. Removal of these hazards improves site visibility, reduces unsafe and unsupervised use conditions, supports faster emergency medical response to potential overdose incidents, and assists law enforcement and outreach personnel in safely identifying and accessing individuals in need of intervention services.

♦ Brush clearing and forestry mulching services are intended to eliminate concealed areas, improve emergency access, and reduce conditions associated with delayed overdose response within the encampment area. Clearing dense underbrush, trails, and visual obstructions will improve visibility across the site for emergency medical personnel, law enforcement patrols, and outreach teams, helping reduce high-risk hidden use environments and supporting rapid identification and response to individuals experiencing opioid-related medical emergencies.

♦ Biohazard labor and safe disposal as the contractor will be dealing with needles, human waste and a variety of other materials that require specialized clean-up and disposal.

The opioid settlement is a nationwide agreement with the pharmaceutical industry that was blamed for stoking an epidemic of addiction to opioid drugs.

According to the Oregon Health Authority, Albany received $448,676 under this program in fiscal 2025. The city spent about $16,000 of that, including $12,000 for “sleep training.”

There is more to be learned about this, but that’s a story for another day. (hh)