Foresta Institute for Ocean and Mountain Studies Records

Foresta Institute for Ocean and Mountain Studies was conceived and established in the mid-twentieth century at a time when the word “ecology” was largely unknown to most people. Founded in 1960 in Washoe Valley, Nevada, the name “Foresta” was derived from the old French word that refers to the outer wild areas of woods and wildlife protected for the sovereign. Though Foresta was the brainchild of Dr. Richard Gordon and Maya Miller, the original board also consisted of John Darling, Homer Angelo, and Ann Angelo. Foresta was incorporated as a private, non-profit scientific, educational and charitable institution under the laws of the state of Nevada on July 1, 1960. Miller and his associates believed there was a need for a non-governmental, non-profit research organization in the community of western Nevada/eastern California, which could encourage, sponsor, and initiate scientific research, resource surveys, and other natural history studies.

In 1961, the Millers purchased Washoe Pines Ranch, a notable former divorce ranch originally owned in the 1920s by writer and illustrator Will James. The couple spent considerable time and resources renovating the original property and eventually constructed an “Environmental Studies Center,” complete with a modern laboratory and library, in the latter half of the 1960s. Washoe Pines Ranch and the adjacent Orchard House (owned by the Millers since the late-1940s) served as the base of operations for Foresta for more than 30 years. Northern Nevada’s high deserts, dunes, lakes, rivers, and alpine forests offered a wide variety of life zones and ecosystems for study. From the onset, Foresta was committed to studies in the fields of biology, hydrobiology, taxonomy, distribution and behavioral studies of fishes, forests, range ecology, and conservation education. Despite being located in Washoe Valley, Foresta’s interests and initiatives were supranational. This involved Miller’s research on Antarctic fauna, and efforts to promote conservation of natural areas in Latin America, especially Argentina and Chile.

Foresta was a pioneer in environmental education. It was one of the first organizations to run a summer camp devoted specifically to natural science. Additionally, staff and instructors, led by Jim Conkey, Nancy Raven, and Marla Painter, developed innovative curricula that would be used on the local and international levels. An early advocate of racial integration, Foresta’s mission centered on teaching respect for all people and the environment around them. In the summer of 1960, Foresta introduced Washoe Pines Camp, focused solely on environmental education. For five weeks in the summer, 30 children from all over the country, ranging in ages from 9-15, gathered at the foot of the eastern slope of the Sierra to study ecology, hike, swim, ride horses, sing songs, and live outdoors. In addition to environmental education and traditional summer camp activities, Foresta encouraged and funded educational ethnographic lessons. Every year, anthropologist Margaret (Peg) Wheat would visit Washoe Pines with renowned Paiute basketmaker and storyteller Wuzzie George, who came from Winnemucca. Together they would teach campers about indigenous culture and lifeways and provide them a greater understanding of the role and cultures of native peoples in the Great Basin.

Each week, campers learned about a different ecological zone through observation, lectures, and frequent field trips. Many of the students were from urban areas and Washoe Pines offered them their first experience to integrate natural history with cooperative living in the outdoors. Maya Miller put special effort into raising “Campership,” scholarships throughout the year, benefitting about one-fourth of the campers. Native American, African American, Hispanic, and Asian students came from across the country, guaranteeing a diverse range of experiences and camaraderie amongst campers. For some campers, the Washoe Pines experience was a defining moment in their educational career, and many later pursued careers as educators and scientists.

In addition to the regular summer camp held at Washoe Pines for younger students, Foresta, for nine years, beginning in 1963, was the site of the annual Summer Science Training Program (SSTP). This intensive five-week program, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), aimed to provide high-ability high school students with college-level science training and a foundation in environmental ethics.

The SSTP, which preceded the camp for younger students, was staffed primarily by Ph.D. level teachers and scientists with backgrounds in ecology, biology, botany, and similar fields. Instruction also relied heavily on guest lectures by international scholars from around the globe including Chile, Guatemala, the Soviet Union, Argentina, and parts of the United States. Students were expected to examine four environments: high desert, pine-fir canyon, mountain meadow, and aquatic. The landscapes around the ranch provided prime study areas for each environment. In the fifth week, students worked on individual research projects where they wrote detailed reports on microclimate, soils, vegetation, or animal life. The studies produced by the SSTP were important for a better understanding of local ecology. For example, reports from 1969 on Tahoe provided previously unavailable data to the U.S. Forest Service for the Tahoe Basin at a point of increased development in the region. The Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe used student reports in 1971, and dune studies at Washoe Lake were vital in the creation of a state park there.

Foresta also engaged in environmental education “on the road,” a precursor to “ecotours.” There were several trips led by Washoe Pines staff including the Peru Expedition, the Appalachian Trek, the Northwest Expedition, the Western Trek, and the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Each of these took 11 or fewer students on long-term camping trips through unique or historically significant parts of the country.

Foresta’s contributions to environmental education were extensive and not just confined to summer camp programs. In 1970, the Education Committee of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), in cooperation with Foresta, co-sponsored a working session for the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) International Education Year, devoted to delegates representing national ministries of education. The program held at Washoe Pines, and led by Miller and Dr. Jan Cerovsky of the IUCN, was a four-week conference on ecology and environmental education for representatives from 14 countries and four continents. Delegates delivered and listened to talks and lectures, participated in seminars, held working group sessions, and developed and supervised fieldwork of that year’s SSTP at Washoe Pines. Representatives came from Liberia, Venezuela, India, Greece, Zambia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan, East and West Pakistan, Lesotho, the Netherlands, Japan, and Mexico. By the end of the conference, each delegate had developed an environmental education framework for his/her respective country and obtained an expanded network of global educators.

From its years of educating a broad spectrum of children about ecology, Foresta was active in developing multicultural environmental curricula. Foresta helped found the North American Association for Environmental Education and the Alliance for Environmental Education. These groups were instrumental in the passage of the Environmental Education Act in 1970, which funded ecological studies in schools nationwide through the Department of Education. Other curricula tested and developed by Foresta included Green Box, Project Learning Tree, and the Community Environmental Laboratory. Two other notable projects attributed to Foresta are the Nevada Folklife Project and the Tinker Truck.

The Folklife Project, with support from the Smithsonian Institute, allowed representatives of Foresta, led by Marla Painter, to research Hispanic, Portuguese, Slavic, and Basque folklore in rural towns across the state. Foresta teacher Weedith Evans and Carol Nimmick outfitted a 1949 Dodge pickup with art supplies, dubbed it the Tinker Truck, and toured schools in remote parts of the state. The Tinker Truck brought rural students the opportunity to learn about art and nature and to explore their own cultures.

Although issues surrounding environmental education, both domestic and international, required substantial attention from those working with and for Foresta, it was just one facet of a larger multifaceted mission. Other important areas included Foresta’s funding and involvement with Dr. Charles L. Camp’s Triassic Ichthyosaur project. The ichthyosaur, discovered in central Nevada, resided in the Millers' garage for some years, where Dr. Camp assembled and examined the bones for later display. With backing from Foresta, Dr. Camp’s work helped to describe and preserve the giant fossil remains. His scientific reports went on to form the basis for the Ichthyosaur Paleontological State Monument project near Berlin, Nevada. Another notable feature of Foresta was the extensive specimen collection and library holdings that specialized in the science and pedagogy of ecology.

Since the late 1950s, Miller was deeply involved in the study and preservation of the resources of Antarctica, particularly its fish. He traveled twice to Antarctica for several months at a time to collect fish specimens, the first time on an Argentine icebreaker as part of the International Geophysical Year. His extensive fish collection found a permanent home at Foresta. Miller’s interest and concern for the Antarctic led him to meet Dr. Maria Buchinger. Like Miller, Dr. Buchinger, who would eventually become the director of Foresta’s Latin America Natural Areas Programs (LANAP), was concerned with the protection and conservation of Antarctica. Together, their suggestions and recommendations created the basis for the Antarctic Treaty of 1959.

Miller worked in cooperation with others to add the first conservation measures to the 1959 treaty, which was signed by twelve nations in 1961. These measures outlined the regulation of human activities on the continent so that the fauna would not be unduly disturbed. They also served as the basis for updated treaties on the Antarctic, and in 1991, a convention for protecting the environment was added and the treaty extended for an additional 50 years. Miller’s interest in the world’s oceans and their fauna also prompted him to attend the World Oceanographic Congress, the United Nation’s (U.N.) Law of the Sea Treaties conferences, and other world conferences where he played a role in establishing and maintaining the Antarctic as neutral scientific territory.

Miller’s interest in the Antarctic also served as the catalyst for his life’s work, A History and Atlas of the Fishes of the Antarctic. This book, based on years of research and study, was the first of its kind upon publication in 1993. A highlight of the book is the 180 detailed and Ichthyologically correct plates illustrated by Josette Gourley. Miller’s collection of Antarctic fish, originally housed at Foresta, can now be found at the Smithsonian U.S. National Museum, the California Academy of Science, and the Los Angeles County Museum.

Throughout all its activity, Foresta sought to establish a public policy that respected the environment. For more than 30 years, Foresta worked in the American West and abroad intending to limit the impact of humans on their environment and to preserve habitats and wild places. Working with other organizations, most notably the Nature Conservancy and IUCN, Foresta was able to participate in efforts that effected change for a healthier planet.

In the American West and internationally, Foresta acted as an early advocate on behalf of rare and endangered species. Continuing from experience gained as part of the IUCN Survival Service Commission, Miller and Tina Nappe transferred their international experience and focused it on Nevada. Foresta was a founding member of the Desert Fishes Council, an organization comprised of scientists and agency representatives involved in the research, preservation, and management of the relict and endemic species found in the arid West’s limited bodies of water. As early as 1947, Miller secured protection of the pupfish in Devil’s Hole near Death Valley by obtaining a private water claim, which he later transferred to the federal government. Additionally, Foresta founded and coordinated an Endangered Species Committee of volunteers that produced fact sheets, newsletters, exhibits, and postcards highlighting regionally endangered species. Because of these efforts, Nevada passed the first state endangered species law in the United States in 1969.

Beginning in 1962, Foresta had a continuous presence in North and South America. It was a long-time participating member in the IUCN with special involvement in the Permanent Commission on Education and the Survival Service Commission, which worked to protect endangered species. For much of its existence, Foresta also held a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) status with the U.N. and participated in a variety of international conferences including the Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm in 1972, the Law of the Sea conferences, and the World Food Conference. Foresta served as a consultant in the U.N.’s Economic and Social Council and aided in setting up and staffing an office in Nairobi, Kenya.

By the early 1990s, Foresta’s domestic activities and programs had mostly ceased, but it remained active on the international scene. The Board, including Eric McClary (the Millers’ son), Marty Makower, Hal Kleeforth, and Helen Toland, oversaw the transfer of materials from the Foresta library and lab to other institutions, including the Desert Research Institute (DRI) and the Nevada State Library. Miller continued to travel to conferences and meetings as a representative of Foresta.

In early 2000, Foresta officially ceased operations and cleared out materials from its facility and library at Washoe Pines. By that time, a number of the projects originally initiated by Foresta were largely succeeded by governmental agencies and national organizations. Many of the alumni and former staff had started other projects and organizations. Miller and the Foresta Board decided that it was time to close down Foresta.

In 2006, Maya passed away at Orchard House, her home in Washoe Valley, at the age of 90, and in 2010, Richard passed away in Arizona at the age of 97. The Millers' leadership inspired many and varied people to take up the mantle of environmental education and to participate in this new and exciting movement. Altogether, they took much pride in Foresta’s accomplishments and its purpose of bringing the issues of the global environment to the forefront of public consciousness.

The legacy of Foresta Institute for Ocean and Mountain Studies continues in the lives of the people that it encouraged and inspired and in the policies and programs that it helped to create.