POULSBO — Two apparent homeless encampments in Poulsbo’s Wilderness Park were cleaned up on June 4 after a photo of one of the camps was posted to the North Kitsap Community Facebook page. The photo appeared to show food wrappers, trash and water bottles strewn about the area, and a few articles of clothing as well as a torn-up tent and sleeping bag.

In a June 4 Facebook post, Poulsbo Mayor Becky Erickson lauded efforts by Public Works Superintendent Mike Lund and his crew in cleaning up the sites.

“A couple of days ago, there was a post on the North Kitsap Community page about some homeless camps in Wilderness Park,” Erickson said in her post. “Public Works crews from the city of Poulsbo cleaned them up today. Thanks Mike Lund and your entire crew for making this happen. We will keep a close eye on the park and all the trails in the future.”

Erickson’s comments drew mixed reactions from the page’s group members, some praised the mayor for taking quick action to clean up the areas and others panned the cleanup as being insensitive to the needs of the local homeless community.

“So you are happy the only home these people had was taken away?” said one commenter.

“I hope a social worker accompanied and that if anyone’s important belongings/ papers etc were saved in case they came looking for them later,” another commenter said.

In an interview, Erickson said the Poulsbo Municipal Code expressly prohibits camping in all city parks.

“Our urban parks are not equipped for overnight camping and the City of Poulsbo made that decision way before I got into public office,” Erickson said. While camping was prohibited, the mayor said the locations were monitored in an attempt to make contact with the individual or individuals who had been using the site.

“We were kind of watching for a while, we didn’t see anybody using the camp, so it’s hard to reach out when there’s nobody

there,” Erickson said. “Any time we have run into folks that have needed mental health services, or vulnerable populations, we have reached out.”

“We have a behavioral health specialist team, we have people that are trained to do this kind of work. So we are very conscious of making sure that that contact is made when we can make it. In this circumstance, there wasn’t anybody around,” Erickson said.

Since 2015, the City of Poulsbo has developed a Behavioral Health Outreach Program which assists individuals countywide in accessing local health services through groups like Kitsap Mental Health Services.

Erickson said cleaning crews did not find any evidence of drug use at either of the sites.

“We didn’t find any drugs; I asked Mike [Lund] about that this morning and the guys did not find any needles. Didn’t find anything like that.”

The sites, Erickson said, appeared to have been abandoned for some time and the few non-litter items appeared to be severely damaged or saturated with water.

“I know that there was one sleeping bag but it was ripped and it was saturated with water. Other than that, it was mostly trash, litter, food wrappings, garbage.”

Erickson said that while the city works to provide resources to those in need, it is also obligated to ensure that city parks remain free of litter.

“We’re trying real hard here to do the right thing for vulnerable populations. On the other hand, when people come into our public places and make a huge mess, we’re compelled to clean it up and not let it stay there. We’re trying to walk this balancing act and I think we’re doing a good job.”

—Nick Twietmeyer is a reporter with Kitsap News Group. Nick can be reached at ntwietmeyer@soundpublishing.com