Helicopter Haul: How Folsom Cleared a Hidden Encampment

Deep in the woods off the Humbug-Willow Creek trail in Folsom, crews just wrapped a major cleanup operation that took nearly two years to pull off—and it required a Sacramento County Sheriff’s office helicopter to finish the job.

The encampment, nestled in a steep, wooded ravine off Glenn Drive, had been home to an estimated 15 unhoused people over the past couple of years. But the site became increasingly problematic: Folsom police received hundreds of complaints about the location, prompting Lt. Lou Wright of the Folsom Police Department and the city’s homeless outreach team to begin formal efforts to clear it. In July of 2024, they started visiting the area, eventually coordinating with California Fish and Wildlife crews to make the cleanup happen.

Getting people the help they needed came first. The homeless outreach team officially posted notice in May and made multiple rounds to notify residents of the coming operation, offering housing information and support resources each time they visited. According to Lt. Wright,“Unfortunately, each time they offered those resources, nobody down here chose to take advantage”—a pattern officials say they encounter regularly when trying to assist unhoused individuals in the area.

The actual removal proved logistically intense. Over several weeks, crews bagged up rubbish, trash, and human waste, preparing everything for extraction. Because the terrain was so remote and difficult to access, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s office brought in a helicopter to haul loads of debris secured in cargo nets. It took multiple trips, lifting everything out to a secondary staging site off Folsom Boulevard. By Friday, officials expected to have a full accounting of just how much material was removed.

No one was at the site during the cleanup—police confirm that anyone who returns faces possible arrest. The operation marks a significant effort from the city to reclaim public land while attempting to connect vulnerable residents with services, even if uptake didn’t materialize in this case.