Now he can get back to his roots.

The homeless "squirrel" man who nested in a Manhattan tree for months is free to branch out again after being released without bail Tuesday.

Rewell Altunaga, 44, declined to comment as he hightailed it out of Manhattan Criminal Court following his arraignment on charges he allegedly attacked a Post reporter and photographer Monday.

Judge Anne Swern set Altunaga loose on supervised release at the request of prosecutors on the count of second-degree assault, which is bail eligible. The judge also ordered him to steer clear of the victims in the case.

"Can you ask them to stay away from me?," Altunaga whined to the judge through a Spanish interpreter.

"You are the person I am directing to stay away from them … I cannot ask them to stay away from you," Swern barked back.

Rewell Altunga
Rewell Altunga, a homeless man who has lived in a tree in Manhattan's Riverbank State Park, was arraigned on second-degree assault charges.
Steven Hirsch

Altunaga, in gray pants, a flannel and black jacket, fidgeted and protested to the interpreter and his Legal Aid attorney as the judge twice tried to impose the restraining order.

"I don't understand anything. I've been in this country for 10 years. I don't know what this is about," Altunaga said through the interpreter, prompting the judge to pause the hearing so he could speak with his attorney.

When Swern continued explaining the order of protection, Altunaga told her: "I don't remember their faces" about the Post reporter and photographer he allegedly came after.

The attack unfolded right in front of NYPD officers and city parks officials who were there to "evict" the vagrant from his illegal makeshift treehouse in Riverbank State Park.

Rewell Altunga
Rewell Altunga allegedly beat a Post photographer with a tree branch and trash bag and smashed his camera.
Steven Hirsch

Altunaga was caught on camera climbing down from his perch and clambering up an embankment, where he bashed the reporter with a branch twice — landing one hit on the side of the victim's head.

Several cops let him walk by them, toward 147th Street, before finally cuffing him when he also beat the photographer with a black garbage bag full of his belongings, and smashed the shutterbug's camera into the ground.

Altunaga, who prosecutors said has two prior convictions, was charged with second-degree assault and criminal mischief.

Rewell Altunga
Judge Anne Swern ordered Rewell Altunga to stay away from his victims but told him she can not order them to stay away from him.
Steven Hirsch
squirrel man arrest
The assault happened in front of police who were at the park to evict Rewell Altunaga from his tree perch.

The bizarre ordeal came a day after city officials issued a one-day "notice of clean up" for the section of the park where the man's sky-high digs were located.

Parks employees cut down four trees surrounding his living quarters, but did not completely remove the shelter, a department supervisor said Monday.

It's unclear if Altunaga, who told reporters he lives in Harlem, will go out on a limb and attempt to return to the park perch.

He has a meeting Wednesday with the Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services (CASES) as part of his supervised release, and is due back in court April 21.

Mayor Eric Adams has vowed to dismantle homeless encampments on city streets.

Rewell Altunga
Prosecutors say Rewell Altunga has two prior convictions.
Steven Hirsch
Rewell Altunga
Rewell Altunga has an upcoming meeting with the Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services as part of his supervised release.
Steven Hirsch

"Right now people are living in inhumane conditions. They're living under cardboards, they're living on highways," Adams said at an event in the Bronx on Monday.

Teams of mental-health professionals and homeless services staffers put up notices giving people in the encampments 24 to 48 hours to move off the streets, Adams said.

Some 150 sites are being targeted as part of a two-week operation that began March 18.