[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 140 (Thursday, August 6, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5251-S5252]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO JULIA BEVINS

  Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, it is Thursday, and it is a time that I 
get to come to the Senate floor and recognize an Alaskan who has made a 
difference in my State and, in this case, someone who has made a 
difference literally around the globe. This is someone I refer to as 
the ``Alaskan of the Week.'' I love to do it. I know some of our 
reporters listening enjoy this.
  Kristin, I know you love bears, so this week you will be particularly 
interested.
  Before I get into the bears and the story and the individual we are 
going to honor today, let me tell you a little bit about what is 
happening in Alaska. Like other places in our great Nation, our State 
is certainly facing challenges--like the rest of America, one foot in 
our economic recovery, one foot still in this pandemic. It is a 
challenging time, but Alaskans are tough--certainly some of the 
toughest people in America. As I say, tough times don't last, but tough 
people do. We will get through this as a State, as a nation, and I 
think that certainly applies to Alaska.
  It is summer. The Sun is high. The salmon are running thick. The 
bears are digging them out of the streams. By the way, a word to the 
wise: When you have salmon, you almost always have bears, so be 
careful.
  In Alaska, we love our bears and so does our Alaskan of the Week, 
Julia Bevins, who recently moved from Anchorage to the gorgeous town of 
Homer--Homer, AK. For those of you who have been there, you know what I 
am talking about. For those who haven't, you have to get out to Homer. 
It is the halibut capital of the world but a magnificently beautiful 
place. Just the drive from Anchorage to Homer is breathtaking. There is 
no other place in the world like it.
  It is from Homer that Julia keeps going the now world-renowned 
foundation, the international Bear Conservation Fund, which is part of 
the International Association of Bear Research and Management, or IBA, 
that she and her late husband, wildlife biologist John Bevins, founded.
  Why the foundation and why the bears? Let me tell you about a tragic 
and beautiful story relating to Julia and her late husband John.
  Julia was born in New Mexico and raised in Australia. She has a 
degree in veterinary science from the University of Queensland in 
Australia. She came to Alaska in 1984 to get a Ph.D. in wildlife 
biology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Her focus was on 
reindeer herd health and disease control.
  She met John in 1985, and the two were married in Fairbanks in July, 
1990. They were both in love with Alaska and with each other. It was 
the love of a lifetime, Julia said.
  Indeed, it was a great match. She was a veterinarian focusing on 
reindeer. He was a wildlife biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service, working on polar bear research--the best wildlife biologist 
job you could ever have, polar bear research in Alaska.
  Then, unfortunately, tragedy struck. Three months after they were 
married, on October 11, John and his colleague George Menkens, and 
their pilot, Clifford Minch, got into a twin engine aero commander at 
Deadhorse. They were headed north to do a low-altitude aerial survey of 
female polar bears with cubs who prowl the ice hunting for food.
  They were believed to have traveled as far as 250 miles northwest of 
Barrow, now known as Utqiaqvik--the northernmost point of North 
America. That is where people believe the plane they were traveling on 
vanished. No one really knows where.
  The search, at least initially, was extensive. In the first few days, 
members of the U.S. Coast Guard flew C-130s, as well as civilians in 
their aircraft, and spanned the area, flying hundreds of thousands of 
square miles looking for any signs of the aircraft. After a week, they 
decided the search was over. Julia was desperate. She knew that her 
late husband and the two others had 2 weeks of provisions and adequate 
survival gear. What if they had survived? What if they were on an 
icefloe? What if they were still out there and the searchers happened 
to miss them in that huge expanse?
  This idea was overwhelming to her. She called everyone she knew to 
help in keeping the search going. And eventually, like so many Alaskans 
did, she called the late great Senator Ted Stevens, who--as he was 
known to do--got to work for his fellow Alaskan.
  ``He did an amazing thing,'' Julia said. He arranged for the 
Canadians to send a military radar plane that could detect metal above 
sea ice--anything bigger than a 4-foot square. The plane could cover an 
area the size of Manitoba in 1 night. So they did it.
  It was that search that finally gave Julia peace of mind. She said: 
After the military plane came and left, I felt like we had done 
everything we could have possibly done to find my husband. I knew my 
husband was gone, and there was a peace of mind going forward
  Senator Ted Stevens gave me a life, she said. He gave me a life free 
from self-recrimination and free of doubt.
  She also credits Senator Stevens for giving her enough peace to work 
to honor her husband's memory in a way that was unique to him. She took 
the proceeds she received from the insurance, and she began the bear 
foundation. It started off small in 1993. The first year it was up and 
running, the foundation gave away $5,000 in grant money. That money, 
which was invested well, began to grow and so did the amount of the 
grants awarded.
  One year, the foundation was able to give out $50,000 in grant money. 
The average size of individual grants is now $8,000. All told, they are 
able to give about $100,000 a year, including donations that they get 
from individuals and organizations.
  It is not just about the money that has grown, so has the prestige of 
this foundation. The IBA now has 550 members from over 60 countries. 
Because of Julia Bevins, in Homer, AK, all across the globe, 
researchers are working with other biologists. They are tracking bears. 
They are assisting in management of these great animals. They are 
writing papers and sharing information. They are doing what they love 
for the ecosystem. Julia said:

       When people love bears, they love them with their whole 
     heart and soul. It's a very profound thing.

  Julia talked about how the IBA funded a researcher to search for a 
rumored small brown bear--the Gobi bear--in Mongolia, the only bear to 
exist in this extreme desert habitat. There had been sightings 
throughout the year, but no scientist had ever been able to prove its 
existence.
  The IBA funded a scientist, Harry Reynolds--an Alaska from 
Fairbanks--to travel through Mongolia and find the Gobi bear. And he 
found them. Now the Mongolian Government is committed to its 
protection.
  Scientists funded by the IBA worked with other scientists in Iran to 
document not only bears, but they were able to find 16 new wildlife 
species. From the dangerous border between India and Pakistan to the 
equally dangerous forests of Colombia, bear researchers, helped with 
IBA money, are working with local citizens and governments and other 
scientists, forming true alliances to help save bears.
  Science ties the world together, Julia said. When you have a 
collective of

[[Page S5252]]

like-minded people working for a common goal, all things are possible.
  When you have someone with a mission like Julia Bevins, all things 
are possible too.
  Thank you to Julia for your commitment to this great cause, for your 
work in helping keep John's memory alive, and for your amazing work on 
bears in Alaska and bears in the world. Congratulations on being our 
Alaskan of the Week.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan.

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