State officials are seeking to ban overnight recreational use and camping on the more than dozen small islands that dot the Willamette River through Eugene.

The State Land Board on Tuesday authorized the Department of State Lands to begin the process to impose the ban. The department's director, Vicki Walker, a Eugene resident and former state senator, said she'd authorize an emergency nighttime closure starting May 15 while the rulemaking is underway.

The draft rules as initially proposed would prohibit any recreational use of the islands between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. between Randy Papé Beltline and the Interstate 5 bridge. No camping or fires would be allowed at any time.

The rulemaking is in response to ongoing concerns that illegal homeless camps are polluting the river and the sensitive riparian areas along it. Workers continually work to clean up abandoned camps along the corridor, but they can't get it all, including feces, needles, tarps and garbage.

"It's far worse then your office mates leaving dishes in the sink," Walker said during the meeting, "but this one is just an abomination so we will take care of it."

John Brown, a Eugene Water & Electric Board commissioner who has been critical of the city for not addressing the problem, said Friday the high waters from this week's late-season flooding scoured the river banks and islands of accumulated trash and contaminants.

"All of it is gone," he said.

He's all for the proposed ban: "I would do anything to support it. It's the best thing since sliced bread to me because it's such an egregious misuse of our environment."

The rulemaking is another move by public officials to attempt to reduce the impacts of illegal camping on public lands. The city already bars overnight camping on its public property, and the county has recently moved to set curfews on its property in downtown Eugene that has attracted homeless campers in the past.

Eugene resident Susan told the State Land Board during its meeting that she has mixed feelings about the proposed ban.

A volunteer for the Egan Warming Center, which provides emergency shelter during freezing temperatures, said she's saddened by the plight of homeless people and that a move to kick them off public land isn't a solution.

"We have to deal with the problem," she said. "We can't keep shoving people out."

Also an avid walker in Alton Baker Park, Eugene's largest developed park located along the Willamette River, Macomson said she's seen large accumulations of trash in the park in recent weeks.

"It looks like people just threw garbage bags of trash out," she said. "I've never seen that before until really recently."

Gov. Kate Brown, who chairs the board, reiterated her push for hundreds of millions of dollars to provide more affordable housing to address the problem.



"This is a huge problem and it's not just a problem facing the metro areas," she said. "It's a problem all over the state.

Secretary of State Bev Clarno and State Treasurer Tobias Read also sit on the three-member board, tasked with managing Oregon's waterways and 780,000 acres of state-owned land.

Traditionally, the city has cleaned up illegal camps on the islands, assuming it was a city property. However, campers objected to being evicted from an island last summer, Walker told the board, claiming the island was state-owned and the employees lacked the authority.

Their argument proved true. The islands were formed after statehood in 1859 through the gradual build-up of sediment, making them state-owned, the state department said.

"We appreciate their (city workers) time and energy and hope they're not planning to send us a bill," Brown quipped at the meeting.

The department reported that Eugene had posted for cleanup about 100 illegal camps in the typical month, about a third of which are along the Willamette River. For the 18 months ending in mid-July of 2018, the city cleaned up 44 camps on islands. Since that time, the department along with city parks and police employees have monitored the areas and documented littering and dumping, reckless burning and property damage.

With the board approval, the department may convene an advisory committee to review and comment on the draft rule before a final proposed rule is put out for public comment, which would include a local public hearing. An adopted rule is tentatively slated to take effect by Jan. 1.

Follow Christian Hill on Twitter @RGchill. Email christian.hill@registerguard.com.