‘Dirtworld: The Uprising’ seeks to unite Central Oregon through cleanup effort
CENTRAL OREGON (KTVZ) — Homeless encampments along Central Oregon dirt roads have existed for decades, according to organizer Nicholas Dieringer. He said the areas were once known as “the trees,” a name based on their surroundings.
Today, they’re called Dirt World.
Dieringer said there are eight Dirt World communities across Central Oregon. His project, “Dirtworld: The Uprising,” will bring people from those communities and the broader public together for a cleanup effort intended to address trash while challenging public perceptions of those who live there.
Dieringer said he began the project after learning more about the region’s dirt-road communities and witnessing people being told to leave some areas with little notice.
“I saw these people being asked to leave and homes literally being torn apart by tractors and stuff,” Dieringer said. “I witnessed it with my own eyes. I said, somebody has got to do something.”
He said outsiders often focus on garbage, wreckage, drug use and rumors surrounding Dirt World. But Dieringer said that view fails to capture the people and families living there.
“Once you just take the time to go inside of dirt road, make a few connections, you realize you start to see that there’s a lot more inside of dirt road that people even know,” Dieringer said. “Families, communities, people that are thriving and building almost like an ecosystem.”
Dieringer said people living in Dirt World include families, people who lost homes in fires, people dealing with financial hardship, and people experiencing mental health challenges or addiction.
“There are good people within the world,” he said. “They’re human beings and they have good hearts, and they just need a chance to be heard and a voice to speak for them.”
Dieringer said the project has drawn both encouragement and criticism. Some people have questioned why the broader community should help clean up areas where trash has been left behind.
“Well, they do care,” Dieringer said. “This is the way we’re going to show that.”
The cleanup was initially planned for a Redmond Dirt World community. Dieringer said he decided against holding it there after hearing concerns from residents who were not ready to have their names, homes or daily lives filmed and made public.
Instead, he said the group plans to clean an area outside the current community where people once lived and where debris remains.
Dieringer said the approach allows people from Dirt World communities to participate while protecting the privacy of residents who do not want attention brought to their homes.
“If they’re willing to leave their world and unite outside of their home to where they once were, where the garbage still is, go out of their way, their comfort zone to clean up all the garbage, if that doesn’t speak to the city, I don’t know what does,” he said.
For Dieringer, the goal extends beyond one cleanup.
“It’s not about the actual cleanup itself, even though that’s important,” he said. “It’s what comes with that. If we join together, that’s where the change is.”
If you’d like to volunteer or receive more information about Dirt World Uprising, check out Dieringer's social media page.
