Oregon Public Broadcasting

Seven years after eco-saboteurs set fire to logging trucks outside the Mount Hood National Forest, radical environmentalist Tre Arrow publicly acknowledged playing a role. Rob Manning reports.

Under terms of the agreement, Arrow accepts a six and a half year prison term for burning logging and cement trucks. But the deal gives Arrow credit for the four years he spent in jail in Canada, fighting extradition.

That means he could be free by fall of 2010. If convicted on all charges, Arrow could have faced life in prison.

Arrow supporter, Eddie Curran says despite the plea, he doesn’t believe Arrow was involved in the arsons.

Eddie Curran: “He's signing pieces of paper, he's saying 'yes' when he has to say 'yes.' I think he’s just playing the game, basically."

Tre Arrow rose to national fame in 2000 when he spent nine days protesting on a ledge of the Forest Service building in downtown Portland.

In the fall of that year, Arrow ran for Congress.

Arrow fled when he was indicted on the arson charges in 2002, and he eluded authorities until he was caught shoplifting in Canada in 2004.

Arrow is scheduled to be formally sentenced in August.