People: Friend of wildlife, Portola Valley's rural character says adieu People: Friend of wildlife, Portola Valley's rural character says adieu (April 13, 2005)

Craig Breon leaves town for a year-long vacation

By David Boyce

Almanac Staff Writer

At Sausal Pond in Portola Valley, a sag pond common along earthquake faults, birds live in a habitat built by nature. They don't need names, but humans have come up with some: green heron, bufflehead duck, American coot, pie-billed grebe. They do need champions in this modern world, and perhaps the ideal champion cares not for their nomenclature but for their quality of life.

They have had such a one in Craig Breon, a native son of Portola Valley, the recent chair of the town's Planning Commission, and the recent executive director of the local chapter of the Audubon Society, a group dedicated to preserving bird habitats.

"I don't even care if I know the names of all the species," Mr. Breon told the Almanac during a recent visit to the Windy Hill Open Space Preserve. "I have learned to like birds. When I was hired, the Audubon Society didn't ask me a single question about birds."

After 11 years with Audubon, it's now too late for such questions, if they ever needed to be asked. Mr. Breon, 39, is on a six-month solo kayaking vacation in the Western states after resigning from Audubon and from the Planning Commission, where he served for 10 years. Upon his return, he'll embark on a six-month tour of Central and South America and southern Africa with his girlfriend.

Before he left, the Almanac talked with Mr. Breon -- an attorney and a dedicated conservationist -- about his environmental calling and his views as a Portola Valley resident and community volunteer.
A rare breed

Some people talk about a life protecting the environment; some walk the talk. Craig Breon is among the latter.

He had some lucky breaks, he admits, starting with parents who encouraged him to follow his dreams. He attended Menlo School in Atherton and Williams College in Massachusetts, then spent a year at Oxford.

After Oxford, he taught English at a Shanghai university for a year. "It's really weird to be in a place where you're very much a minority," he says. "I loved it."

Shanghai's overcrowding helped him see his mission in life, he says. Upon returning to the United States, he decided on a career in environmental protection. Lacking a background in science, he followed his dad into the law.

The low-cost tuition at the University of California at Davis law school kept his debts low, allowing him to take the executive director's job the Audubon Society's Santa Clara Valley chapter after graduating. On a starting salary of $12,500, he lived with his dad for some years, eventually moving to a studio in town at a reduced rent.

To acquire an environmentalist's scientific frame of mind, he says he read. Recently he studied fluvial geomorphology. "I always love it when people ask me, 'So what kind of biologist are you?'" he says.

Mr. Breon passed the bar exam but never practiced. When filing lawsuits -- at Audubon, about one a year -- his legal background was helpful, he says, in negotiating settlements and in building cases before handing them off to practicing attorneys.

"My personal motto used to be 'Think globally, sue locally,'" he says. "Lawsuits are one of the few things that can level the playing field with corporations."

While at Audubon, Mr. Breon filed suits against Cisco Systems over expansion plans, Lockheed Martin and the City of San Jose over burrowing owl habitats, and a property developer over protecting an East Bay creek, he says. Most suits were settled and Audubon lost money just once, which speaks to the substance of his complaints, he says.

After his vacation, he says, he may try practicing law. Environmental law is a small field: of every 100 lawyers, two work in it, he says. His decision will turn on how to best apply his skills on two huge issues: climate change and the loss of species biodiversity.
No place like home

"Portola Valley is one of the most beautiful places on earth," says Mr. Breon from his seat on a tree stump at the edge of Sausal Pond off Portola Road at Windy Hill. "It's pretty tough to beat, especially the sense that it's so rural and natural and you're only half an hour from San Francisco."

Is that rural character in danger? Portola Valley attracts wealthy people with a sense of community values, he says, but there are pressures from newcomers with ambitious plans. "These are people used to getting their way (for) most of their lives," he says.

Mr. Breon is an advocate of modest living. "I was interested in no development, not good orderly development," he says, referring to his application to join the Planning Commission. He would never buy a new house on open land, he says. Nor would he buy a new car, he says, because it would implicitly endorse the energy expenditure needed to manufacture it.

As a commissioner, he has had to temper his views and adopt a give-something-to-get-something approach. "It's a fine line when you believe, as I do, that wealth is more often than not used poorly. Communicating that value (is) not an easy thing to do," he says. "You cannot offend people in order to educate them."

But roadside Tudor mansions with masonry fences aren't likely to show up soon, he notes. "The people who would like to have looser rules know that they can't win an election."

The Town Council is planning a new complex of buildings at Town Center because the existing 50-year-old complex may collapse in an earthquake. Mr. Breon says he's behind the plan, but foresees difficulty in explaining its approximate $15 million cost to the public.

He says he's aware of several wealthy residents who have implied that they'll step forward and "do a fair amount of the funding." Without such donations, it probably shouldn't be built, he says.
Plaudits from planners

Planning Commissioner Linda Elkind served with Mr. Breon for nine years on the five-member commission, which Mr. Breon chaired for the last five years.

"I respect his tremendous integrity and forthrightness," Ms. Elkind says. "On issues, he made it clear what his point of view was and then would make his arguments and make his arguments clear also. ... He handled himself with a lot of grace. He's been a wonderful asset to the town."

"I admired him tremendously because he was never afraid to face up to controversial issues," said Planning Commissioner Leah Zaffaroni. "Craig would always listen carefully (but) in the end, he was willing to make unpopular decisions. He never wavered from that."

Town Planner George Mader had kind words, too. "He understood the values of the town and he worked hard to achieve them," Mr. Mader says, noting Mr. Breon's skill at chairing meetings, dealing with interest groups and finding solutions.

"He was very diligent in his work and always sought to get the best information possible," Mr. Mader says. "He will be sorely missed."

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