Environmental activist Tre Arrow was spotted in a fir tree in Southeast Portland Sunday afternoon.
He’s been called a green anarchist, an eco-terrorist, and Sunday he was described as simply, “Keeping Portland Weird.”
Arrow is best known for scaling Portland’s U.S. Forest Service Building in downtown Portland in July 2000, living on a ledge for 11 days.
Arrow resurfaced Sunday afternoon in a 40 foot high fir tree on Southeast 44th near Southeast Stark Street.
His message: are you willing to love and respect your mother, Earth?
Portland Fire & Rescue crews (PF&R) did manage to get near Arrow high up in the tree, but did not take him down.
A.J. Schaffer, spokesman for the PF&R, said after determining Arrow was not suicidal, and did not pose a threat to himself, they decided to leave him there.
“It’s extremely dangerous to wrestle someone out of tree who doesn’t want to come down,” Schaffer said.
But what goes up must come down. Arrow climbed down to speak to reporters, even asking his own questions.
After he led the crowd in a chant, Arrow ranted for ten minutes about the importance of “stopping our mother earth from being raped.”
Neighbors in Southeast Portland were torn away from Sunday afternoon activities by the commotion.
Matt Guynn said he was interrupted from church to learn Arrow was in the neighborhood.
“When Tre came in we were in the middle of bible study singing a song called ‘The Way of the Wilderness,” Guynn said.
Guynn said he respects Arrow’s message, even if he is delivering it from the top of a fir tree.
“He is saying my name is, or I am Tre Arrow. Portland will you love and respect the trees? Will you love and respect the earth? And as far as I can tell there is nobody yet yelling back yes,” Guynn said.
Jesse Rapoport used Arrow’s presence as inspiration.
“I was having band practice and we looked out window and Tre Arrow was here,” the young musician said.
"We wrote a song about him,” said Rapoport.
Arrow spoke of the Occupy movement saying those who want to be considered part of the “99%” need to include the earth.
“It’s not just about humans; every living being including our earth mother is suffering,” said Arrow, once he climbed down the tree.
Arrow was born Michael Scarpitti in 1974, gaining national notoriety in July 2000 for living on the ledge of the U.S. Forest Service Building for 11 days. He ran for Congress in 2000. In 2001 he was wanted in connection with a Ross Island arson, and another fire in Estacada.
Arrow was indicted for both crimes in 2002 after a co-conspirator named Arrow as part of a plea bargain. He fled to Canada, where he was arrested in 2004 for a burglary.
Arrow was sent back to the U.S. where he served federal prison time from 2008 until his release into a Portland halfway house in 2008.
