Inside 100-Acre Wood Bike Park, there’s patches of thick trees followed by stretches of barren dirt. Tents stacked next to each other and connected with blue tarps stick out on top of the dirt.
One dwelling is complete with pumpkin decor and concrete blocks line up to mimic a driveway. It’s the home of Augustine De La Rosa and his father. Other friends, he said, live there too and created their family. He’s lived in 100-Acre Wood for nearly two years.
“This is where we’ve been,” he said. “We started in just a little four man tent.”
He said it’s important to keep the area around the tents clean to help the city when they come to take the trash out.
“I mean for the people that do stay here, I suggest they clean up their areas and make it look nice,” he said.
He has extra tents for storage and a generator for electricity. But soon, life will change for those living in the encampment. Notices of decommissioning were sent out to the 24 people living in Zone One, placed on their tents and around their areas. The City of Tucson said this zone needs to be cleared out so that soil and groundwater testing for PFAS can be completed. The testing will be conducted by Davis Monthan Air Force Base.
Andy Squire, the public information officer for the city manager’s office, said in an email that outreach teams like COPE, Community Bridges and many other are focused on connecting the people in the encampment with services. De La Rosa and his father are in touch with Community Bridges to recieve housing services.
“I hope I get out of this situation and never come back to this situation, he said.
Squire said other areas of 100-Acre Wood will be decommissioned later this year to restore and improve the mountain bike trails in the park.