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The book's introduction written by Harold Gilliam for Robert Buelteman's photographic masterpiece "The Unseen Peninsula" provides all Californians an opportunity to learn from the fate of the San Francisco Peninsula watershed native Ohlones. As cities sprawl into the countryside, replacing nature with concrete and asphalt, their residents are cut off from the natural world that gives them material and spiritual sustenance. The hills west of the San Francisco Reservoirs are among those very rare places near cities where the watershed natural processes continue as they have for millennia, where bulldozers have made few inroads, where live oaks and laurels and redwoods still provide shelter and forage for deer and raccoons and foxes. Unfortunately, the original human inhabitants, the Ohlones, are gone, but their spirits, bearing messages we need to hear, still walk the watershed. In 1769, the Ohlones, no doubt gazing in amazement at the first Europeans to come this way, little realized that the bearded strangers were on the advance guard of wave after wave of outsiders who would arrive to take over their land and eradicate their way of life. Now, on the dawn of the twenty-first century, we continue to come by the millions to make California our home, although we have strayed afar. If our culture is to survive, if we are to repair the damage done to our California watershed, we need to come home again, to rediscover our roots, to re-create our reverence for the earth and all its forms of life. This is the implicit message of the Ohlones. Californians either heed this lesson of history or we are all destined to go the way of the Ohlones.
California's rich and diverse watersheds have provided us with an exceedingly generous bounty. There are limits to these natural systems, and it is time to return their generosity. As we enter the 21st century, and add 15 million Californians by the year 2020, we need an expanded public/private natural resource investment strategy to restore life supporting habitats and fully protect vital natural systems. The California Watershed Posse (CWP) believes a vision for the twenty first century must recognize that California habitats and natural communities are an integral part of the economic foundation upon which future prosperity depends. Every Californian and visitor has an obligation to promote increased investment in conserving our watershed natural systems, and the life they support, to sustain a strong agricultural economy, growing tourism and recreational industries, healthy communities and a quality of life that attracts the work force that underpins a vibrant economy.
The CWP funds a full array of stewardship services, conducts environmental mitigation studies and habitat conservation planning. The CWP provides training in stewardship and monitoring of the watersheds environmentally sensitive habitat areas and works closely with regulatory agencies to monitor and test local ground water, subsurface soils and run off for toxic pollutants. The CWP has established a coastal rural lands Fire Safe Council consolidated resource management plan (CRMP) to protect the San Francisco Peninsula Watershed natural systems and its Hetch Hetchy water resources in perpetuity.
The CWP Living Legacy Program (LLP) offers benefactors an opportunity to donate money, securities, real estate or easement grants to our 501c3 non-profit charitable trust. The California Watershed Posse is also a tenured coalition member of NOAA's Water Quality Protection Program (WQPP). The CWP believes that every Bay Area water user has a responsibility to contribute to a living legacy that protects California's future, habitat and prosperity. Every Bay Area water user will have an opportunity to financially support the CWP through the Alan Anthony Beaven Living Legacy Program.
Alan Anthony Beaven was our Watershed Posse Co-founder and Clean Water Act legal counsel. Alan's fearless passion was the protection of the Bay Area's water quality and the watershed's natural systems. He died on September 11, 2001 on Flight 93.
Alan was just one of many heroes that died that day, but his love of life, family and community required him to do what he had always done, the right thing. The Coastside Watershed Posse will strive to work to preserve his legacy, by protecting Bay Area water quality, maintaining a fire safe healthy watershed, and by doing the right thing for generations to come.
The Watershed Posse knows "Change is inevitable, Survival is not".
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"Fear... Who Cares?"
ALAN ANTHONY BEAVEN
October 15, 1952 - September 11, 2001
A memorial service to celebrate the life of Bay Area attorney Alan A. Beaven was held on October 13, 2001 at 10:30 a.m. at Grace Cathedral, 1100 California Street, San Francisco.
Alan, 48, a native New Zealander and longtime Oakland resident, was an environmental attorney with Berman DeValerio Pease Tabacco Burt & Pucillo. He devoted his career to representing numerous environmental groups,Save Our Bay's California Watershed Posse, United Anglers of California, in several high profile Clean Water Act cases. At the time of his untimely death, Alan, with his wife Kimi, was about to begin a year sabbatical in Mumbai, India, as a volunteer lawyer for the SYDA Foundation, an international group dedicated to humanitarian and spiritual work. Alan had long been a practitioner of meditation and Siddha yoga.
Alan is survived by his wife, Kimi Beaven, their 5-year old daughter, Sonali; and by his two sons, Chris, a freshman at Loyola Marymount University, and John, a senior at the University of California, San Diego, from his first marriage. Contributions in lieu of flowers may be made to the Alan Beaven Family Foundation, c/o Janet Dobrovolny, Esq., 2000 Powell Street, suite 1605, Emeryville, CA 94608.
Alan... As morning broke across the sea, The sunlight gleamed so tenderly,
Atop the waves that broke to shore, His heart held joy, no need for more.
He loved his wife, children and friends, Like the endless ocean his love knew no ends.
With twinkling eyes and easy aires, He chanted the mantra of "fear, who cares?"
Upon his friendships he did thrive, Through joy of others he felt alive.
All of his kindness he extended, The world as family he defended.
He had good times he had his pleasures, He knew his life was filled with treasures.
Like the gentle rolling of the sea, He was peaceful, he felt free.
As noon drew nigh the weather turned, The ocean blackened, the water churned.
That fateful day the world was shown, The fearless man I'd always known.
September 11, 2001, Seared in the minds of everyone.
Yet amid such terror so broad in scope, Alan and friends bequeathed new hope.
Aboard 93 they came United, The mind of evil had been shortsighted.
Not thinking men would band as brothers, Heroes giving their lives to save many others.
Storm clouds will pass to bear the sun, With golden light as day is done.
Like ebbing water and flowing tides, Alan will always stand at our sides.
The world most surely felt his love, And now he looks down from above.
My father I will surely miss, But to feel sea breeze is to feel his kiss.
From rolling oceans you can hear, "I love you and I'll stay near."
And waves will always seem to say, "Sadgurunath Maharaj ki Jay".
John Beaven
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Remembering Alan Beaven
Senator Feinstein, U.S. Senate Honors Alan Beaven's Heroism with Congressional Record
Mrs. FEINSTEIN:
Madam President, I come to the floor today to honor the heroism of Alan Beaven -- a Californian aboard Flight 93 who helped prevent the terrorists from crashing another airplane into its intended target on September 11, 2001. As we approach the one-year anniversary of that horrible day, our thoughts turn to the heroes like Alan who gave their lives to save others. To honor the courageous passengers of Flight 93, I joined Senator SPECTER to co-sponsor the ``Flight 93 National Memorial Act,'' which I believe the Senate will pass today to establish a memorial at the crash site in Pennsylvania. This legislation will also establish a Flight 93 Advisory Commission to recommend planning, design, construction, and long-term management of the memorial. I believe it is important to pass this legislation before the anniversary of September 11 to appropriately recognize the heroism of Alan Beaven and the other Flight 93 passengers. I would like to take a few moments to tell the world about Alan and his family. Alan Beaven wasn't supposed to be on Flight 93 that tragic day. On Monday, September 10, Alan and his wife Kimberly were in New York planning for a year long sabbatical in India to work for a humanitarian foundation. Alan was a top environmental lawyer in San Francisco who planned to volunteer his services in India. Alan was headed east, not west, but there was one last case involving pollution in the American River near Sacramento and settlement talks had broken down that Monday. Alan had to head back. Tuesday morning Alan drove to Newark, New Jersey to catch a flight to the West Coast. Flight 93 was 40 minutes late that day--giving passengers onboard time to learn about the planes that had crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. A few called home on cell phones to express their love and say that a groupof passengers were determined to fight back against the hijackers -- Alan Beaven was one of those brave men. No one knows for sure what happened aboard that airplane, but we do knows countless lives were saved when that plane was diverted from its intended target. Even though Alan's seat was in the back of the airplane, his remains were found in the cockpit at the crash site in Pennsylvania. The Beaven family has also heard Alan on the cockpit voice recorder, so it is clear that Alan standing 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighing over 200 pounds, fought with the hijackers.
I will enter two letters I have received from the Beaven family into the RECORD. Alan's wife, Kimberly, and his son, Chris, wrote to me about what they heard on the cockpit voice recorder in April when the families of the passengers of Flight 93 were allowed to listen to the struggle aboard the aircraft. My heart goes out to Alan's wife, Kimberly, and his three children John, Chris, and Sonali. John earned a biology degree at UC San Diego where he was captain of the baseball team and an Olympic torch bearer when the torch went through Sacramento on its way to Salt Lake City this past winter. John's brother Chris attends Loyola Marymount University and sister Sonali is 5-years-old. Alan's great joy was his family. He spent hours reading to Sonali, scuba diving with Chris, and playing catch with John. In fact, John's early memories of his father were of the two of them playing catch for hours on end. When John was 5, the family moved from London to New York and before they could drop off their luggage, young John made Alan play catch in Central Park. In a tribute to Alan, the Beaven family decided not to have a funeral, but instead a ``Thanksgiving for the life of Alan Anthony Beaven.'' And what a life it was. Alan was born in New Zealand on October 15, 1952. He worked as an attorney in New Zealand, England, New York, and California. As a top environmental lawyer, Alan worked on over 100 clean water cases in just 10 years in California. Friends and family of Alan say they are not surprised that Alan risked his own life so selflessly to save others. The day after the terrorist attacks on our nation, Alan's secretary went into his office and found a single piece of paper tacked up at eye level on the wall in front of his desk. It was a quote he heard that week which summed up how he lived his life, and how he ended it when he joined others to fight back against the terrorists. Alan wrote, ``Fear, who cares?'' And these words adequately describe his actions aboard Flight 93. I did not know Alan Beaven, but this quote tells me all I need to know about him--that he was a fearless, loving, and devoted man. One year later, it is clear that our Nation has lost a superstar environmental lawyer, a loving father and husband, and a true hero -- Alan Beaven.
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