POST FALLS - Jason Minzghor couldn't believe his eyes when he checked out the homeless camp between Interstate 90 and Seltice Way a few weeks ago.

"The garbage was knee-deep in some areas," the operations manager for the Idaho Transportation Department said. "It was a health hazard - human waste, dead animals ... It looked like a dump."

ITD hauled off 16 dump-truck loads of items this week from its sloped, tree-filled property just west of the small Kootenai County Cemetery and near the eastbound Huetter rest stop between Post Falls and Coeur d'Alene. State workers spent 30 hours loading and picking up the garbage and clearing brush at the site.

Minzghor said ITD posted No Trespassing signs a few weeks ago to allow the transients time to gather any personal belongings they wanted and some time to move on.

"Some neighbors complained last spring that it was getting out of hand," he said. "Some of the residents had thefts and they complained of the smell. It's been on our radar, then over the summer it became really nasty in there."

State officials said no one was at the camp when the signs were posted or when the cleanup started on Monday.

Idaho State Police and Post Falls police personnel accompanied ITD workers when the cleanup first started in case resistance was encountered.

"We have no idea how many people were initially in the camp or where they went," said ISP Lt. Chris Schenk.

Minzghor said the site was cleaned last spring.

"The people moved on, but then they came back," he said. "It's cyclical. This fall we may have to go back out there."

Minzghor said the signs are being left up. Brush was cleared from the property to make it more visible from Seltice Way.

Minzghor said state workers were temporarily reassigned from other duties to perform the cleanup and ITD has the equipment to do it.

"It's just the cost of doing business and we wanted to do it as a good neighbor," said Minzghor, adding that he did not have an estimate on the cost of the cleanup and it is not budgeted as a separate project. "It's an unfortunate situation, but we wanted to keep the area safe."

Jeff Conroy, executive director of St. Vincent de Paul North Idaho, a nonprofit that assists the homeless, said he understands the state's need to take action.

"They have to be responsive to the community and it's their property," he said.

Conroy said the majority of those who live in the camps - the "chronically homeless" - are seeking limited to no help and are suffering from mental health or substance abuse issues.

"That population is going to find somewhere to camp so they won't be hassled," Conroy said. "They want to be left alone. It breaks my heart - they're human beings - and this is how they're dealing with (the issues). St. Vincent stands willing to help them. There's help available to them, but they have got to want it."

Conroy said the chronically homeless only make up 8 to 10 percent of the total homeless population. He said there were about 250 homeless people in Kootenai County the last time a count was taken.

Another homeless camp site that ITD previously has cleaned up is along I-90 near Fernan Village, Minzghor said.

Last year a Spokane developer had homeless residents trespassed from a wooded area behind Coeur d'Alene's Target store. An occasional fire or stabbing at that site prompted the action.

"They had been there nine years and, had they laid low like they had been, they may still be back there," Conroy said.