Former two-term Northcoast State Senator Peter Behr died mid-March in Marin County. As county supervisor in Marin he helped raise money for the Pt. Reyes National Seashore and as state senator his first major piece of legislation was the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1972, which spared the Eel, Trinity, Klamath, Smith, Salmon and American Rivers from being further tamed by dams. Behr accomplished all this and more in defense of the environment as a practicing Republican. Later in his career he left the Republican Party and became a Democrat. One wonders what party he could have found to support his efforts today.
Behr's legacy also includes the distinction of having been the first politician to support the public's right to determine whether spraying should occur on public roadsides. In 1972 he wrote a strongly worded letter to Caltrans requesting that it stop spraying in areas where people opposed the operation. He was remembered as honest and quick-witted as well as brave enough to stand up against some of the biggest powers in state government at the time, as he did with the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act which banned river development in the districts of some of the most established good old boys in California's legislature over twenty years ago. In this age of expediency, compromise and powerful special interests it's a great loss for us all when one who stood so tall is no longer here to inspire us.
Copyright Mendocino Environmental Center 1997
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