Bainbridge Island police cleaned up the aftermath of a longtime homeless camp in the woods next to Highway 305 Monday after they discovered the few homeless men who had been living there got housing.

The campsite, on the west side of Highway 305 and High School Road, has been the subject of community concern in recent months as well as the source of multiple 911 calls to police and firefighters.

Police arrived at the camp early Monday and began hauling tents, bedding, trash, tarps, firewood and other castaway debris to the side of the highway, where a large shipping container was waiting to take it all away.

Bainbridge Police Chief Jeff Horn said the residents of the camp had already left before officers arrived to start their cleanup work.

“They found housing; one in Bremerton and one is local,” Horn said.

Helpline House told the homeless men that the area was going to get cleaned up, adding, “‘Anything that’s yours, please go get it,’” Horn recalled. “And they gave them five days, like three weeks ago.”

Helpline House doesn’t own the land; the wooded stretch is part of the right of way for the highway owned by the Washington State Department of Transportation. WSDOT asked the city for help in removing the camp last year, but officials said they tried but found the campers unwilling to voluntarily leave.

Occupants of the camp earlier told the Review that their campsite had existed alongside Highway 305 for years undetected, but people began noticing their tents — and started complaining — after a few other homeless islanders put up a larger campsite a few dozen yards north in the woods on the same side of the highway.

That encampment, home to two, has also been a magnet for police and fire visits, and public attention, over the past year. It has been more visible to passersby on Highway 305 than its better camouflaged neighbor to the south, and includes a large tent with a stovepipe-style heating exhaust pipe popping out of the top that sends smoke wafting toward the highway on cold days. Nearby stands a tall radio antenna hoisted by one of the residents.

That camp remains in place.

Late last week, laminated white notices were placed on trees throughout WSDOT’s property that read: “ATTENTION: VACATE THE PREMISES WITHIN 72 HOURS OR ARTICLES WILL BE REMOVED – WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION.”

Notices were placed at both encampments, but Horn said the remaining people in the northern camp haven’t been asked to move.

The signs were put up “mostly because we don’t want anyone else moving in,” he said.

A Bainbridge police sergeant met with the people still living in the woods after the notices went up and told them: “It’s not about you guys moving at this point,” Horn said.

“They kind of freaked out a little bit when it was posted.”

Police, with volunteer help, had a lot of work to do Monday before the woods went back to nature.

The camp appeared well-established, with multiple fire pits and large stacks of kindling and firewood. A thick bedding of bark and wood chips formed the foundation for one of the tents.

Food containers and liquor bottles were strewn about the underbrush, along with dozens of crushed cans of Mike’s hard black cherry lemonade and Icehouse beer. Also scattered through the campgrounds: empty Sterno cans, lanterns, plastic containers for instant coffee, coolers of various sizes, an old wooden chair, bike parts, packaging for hand warmers, cooking pots and grills, cans of paint, a crushed Bisquick box.

“It is quite a bit of stuff,” Horn said.

More clearing in planned in the near future for the property. The city has plans to put a trail through the woods near where the southernmost campsite was located; the pathway will be paid for by the developers of the Wintergreen commercial development on the other side of Highway 305.

The route for the trail doesn’t pass through the remaining camp, the city said.

Officials added that they hoped remaining residents in the camp will continue to work with Helpline House and their church community to find housing.