Salt Lake County Health Department Clears Illegal Camps, Debris From Parleys Canyon

Six agencies converged on Parleys Canyon on Thursday morning to dismantle three illegal encampments that had accumulated roughly five to seven years' worth of garbage, biohazardous waste, and drug paraphernalia high above the I-80 corridor connecting Salt Lake City to Park City and Summit County.

The Salt Lake County Health Department led the operation alongside the Salt Lake City Rapid Intervention team, Salt Lake City Police Department, Salt Lake City Park Rangers, Utah Department of Corrections, and Advantage Services, a contractor of Salt Lake City.

Brooke Grundy, the Health Department's environmental hazard resource manager, described the scope of what crews encountered. "There was three camps up this canyon, very high up the canyon in particular, that have been established here for approximately five to seven years," Grundy said. "About five to seven years' worth of garbage, a lot of mixed in bio waste, needles, and just an accumulation of things."

The terrain made an already hazardous job significantly harder. "It is a very high-risk cleanup just because of the bio, the steep terrain, and then of course the needles that are mixed in," Grundy said. She described the Parleys Canyon operation as unique among the Health Department's regular cleanup work because of how difficult it was to reach the camps and extract the debris.

The Health Department had been receiving complaints about illegal camping, human waste, drug paraphernalia, and other debris along the canyon section before agencies coordinated the response. Beyond the immediate health concerns, that debris presents a fire hazard along a corridor where wildfire risk is a serious seasonal threat.

Grundy said the Health Department partners with other agencies on cleanups roughly once a week, though few match the logistical challenge of Thursday's operation. She encouraged anyone interested in volunteering to contact the Health Department or Salt Lake City to find coordinated events. "We certainly could use the help," she said.

For Summit County residents who travel Parleys Canyon daily, the encampments represented more than an environmental concern. The cleanup was specifically aimed at addressing safety and commute conditions along the I-80 route that tens of thousands of Park City-area travelers use each year.