80 people living along China Hat Road claim disability discrimination, seek to delay or cancel Cabin Butte project

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – Forty days before a Deschutes National Forest deadline to move hundreds of people living in camps near China Hat Road south of Bend for a major vegetation project, 80 filed disability discrimination complaints Tuesday and a detailed request to delay or cancel the work.

Penny Gartner and Mandy Bryant said they are long-time residents in the forest who “are about to be displaced from our homes and lose everything we have within 40 days” if the nearly 28,000-acre Cabin Butte Vegetation Project proceeds as planned.

The Forest Service announced earlier this year it would close nearly 35,000 acres south of Bend to visitors and the encampments, starting May 1, for at least a year, to ensure public safety and support critical forest restoration efforts. Many KTVZ News recently talked to said they have nowhere to go.

In the cover letter to their 81-page submission (including attachments), addressed to Bend-Fort Rock Ranger District Supervisor Holly Jewkes, the pair say the environmental documents published two years ago “failed to take into account the impact on the human environment, most importantly us.”

They request responses to Eric Garrity on behalf of the Bend Equity Project and Charles Hemingway on behalf of the Home More Network.

They also claim they “have been recently harassed continuously by Forest Service law enforcement officers” preparing for the closure.

Asked for a response, Deschutes National Forest Public Affairs Officer Kaitlyn Webb told KTVZ News: "We have been in communication with Mr. Hemingway and Mr. Garrity and will continue to coordinate with them directly. Implementation of the Cabin Butte project is ongoing, and the closure is still planned for May 1."

The document filed with the Foreste Service lists several issues they say require corrective action, including creation of a public health crisis by failing to implement a mitigation plan and “failure to identify adverse impact of displacement of the homeless and on the community.”

KTVZ News has reached out to speak with those involved in the request and to the Forest Service for a comment as well. We’ll have updates online and in our evening newscasts.