Broken Arrow

[May 28th, 2008]

Environmentalist icon Tre Arrow’s decision last week to plead guilty to longstanding federal charges comes as a blow to his fellow activists, some of whom have spent years fighting for his release while Arrow proclaimed his innocence.

“There will be a lot of people in the community who will be saddened,” says Amy Harwood, a Portland environmental activist and friend of Arrow. “This is a very sensitive subject obviously, and it’s hard news to hear.”

Currently held in Multnomah County Detention Center and facing 14 counts of arson and conspiracy, Arrow requested on May 20 to change his plea to guilty. A hearing to do so is set for June 3 in U.S. District Court. His lawyer, Paul Loney, declined comment except to confirm Arrow had reached an agreement with prosecutors. Stephen Peifer, a prosecutor on the case, also declined comment.

Arrow, 34, gained national notoriety in 2000 when he scaled the U.S. Forest Service building in Portland and perched for 11 days to protest logging at Eagle Creek. A run for Congress that year on the Pacific Green Party ticket—he got 5.8 percent of the vote against Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.)—sealed his reputation as an “environmental rock star,” as Rolling Stone described him.

Arrow’s fall came in 2002, when he was indicted on charges that he participated in two firebomb attacks against gravel and logging trucks in 2001. Branded a domestic terrorist by the FBI, Arrow fled to Canada, where he was arrested in 2004.

His supporters in return flooded the Canadian courts with letters and raised money to fund Arrow’s legal fight. It’s uncertain how much money was raised. Several supporters contacted for this story declined to comment and referred questions to Loney.

Arrow returned to Portland Feb. 29 after abandoning a four-year extradition battle. Until now he has steadfastly maintained he’s an innocent political prisoner.

As late as last week, his website, trearrow.org, still read: “I am innocent of the charges the U.S. government is trying to pin on me. Just as many activists have experienced, I am being targeted…because I have chosen to challenge the status quo.”

But by Tuesday, Arrow had removed the banners proclaiming his innocence and posted a note on his plea change. “I am in no way selling my soul just to receive a sweet deal,” the note reads. “I am not giving them any information about anyone or anything which could lead to others being prosecuted. They offered me a deal I couldn’t refuse.”

News of Arrow’s guilty plea came as environmental activists face other high-profile defeats. On May 8, Eric McDavid was sentenced to nearly 20 years by a Sacramento judge for conspiring to cause damage to a federal facility. On May 30, Briana Waters is scheduled to be sentenced for her role in a 2001 arson fire at the University of Washington.

Arrow’s note names both those defeats as part of the reason he’s pleading guilty.

Critics say all three cases are examples of a vicious crackdown on environmental dissent by the feds. In all three cases, investigators pressured informants to turn on other defendants, who were in turn accused of domestic terrorism.

Will Potter, a freelance reporter in Washington, D.C., who covers environmental activists, says Arrow’s supporters will likely sympathize with his guilty plea. Arrow faced life in prison if he’d gone to trial.

“You just have to make the best decision you can, considering that you’ve been labeled a terrorist and you have the entire weight of the U.S. government coming to bear on you,” Potter says. “You really can’t point fingers.”

Harwood says activists already have mixed feelings about Arrow. “I believe people support his beliefs. Maybe not his actions, but his beliefs,” she says. “The threats he stood up to continue today.”