Tree-Sitting Protester in Fair Condition After Fall

A man protesting logging who fell 60 feet from a hemlock tree in the Tillamook State Forest was in fair condition at a Portland hospital with broken bones and a head injury.

Michael Scarpitti, also known as Tre Arrow, had been clinging to the tops of trees in the forest since Wednesday to protest a thinning operation. At one point, authorities isolated him to one 100-foot hemlock by cutting nearby trees and most of the limbs from the tree where he was sitting.

He apparently fell asleep Saturday and fell to the forest floor.

“His injuries were entirely self-inflicted by stupidity,” Clatsop County Dist. Atty. Josh Marquis said. “He was fortunate enough that there were some branches there to break his fall.”