Joseph L. Miller (1910- ), a native of Chicago, trained as a medical doctor. He moved to Oregon in 1940 with his wife, Amy, and opened a medical practice in Portland. In 1948, the family bought 94 acres near the Bull Run Reserve, in the vicinity of Marmot, Clackamas County, Oregon. There they built a small cabin, mostly for summer camping, and in 1975 established a permanent home on three acres. They donated the remaining 91 acres to the Portland Audubon Society in 1977.
In 1971, Miller discovered that the United States Forest Service (USFS) had, since 1958, allowed commercial logging in the Bull Run Watershed and planned to open a 30,000-acre area for recreational purposes in spite of a 1904 Trespass Act which prohibited these activities. Miller attended a public meeting that drew so much opposition that the USFS and the Portland Water Bureau withdrew the recreation development plan. After that meeting, Miller began a systematic effort to collect and disseminate information on the Bull Run Reserve to focus public attention on the need for watershed protection. In 1974, he organized the Bull Run Citizens' Advisory Committee, which evolved into the Bull Run Interest Group (BRIG) by 1975. BRIG was active at varying levels until about 1993. Miller was most concerned about the secrecy and lack of public information and input that he believed characterized the activities of the USFS and Portland Water Bureau, which managed the Bull Run Watershed.
In 1973, Miller and two co-plaintiffs initiated a class-action lawsuit against the USFS for allowing public access and logging in violation of the Trespass Act and won their case. However, in 1977 Congress nullified the act, and new legislation, introduced by Rep. Robert Duncan and Sen. Mark Hatfield of Oregon, specified that the Bull Run Reserve could be managed by the Forest Service according to prevailing multiple-use principles. Use of the watershed need not be confined to water production, though that use was supposed to be primary.
Miller's crusade to restore the protections of the Trespass Act continued after 1977, and, with the public scrutiny that he inspired, serious degradation of the watershed diminished. His efforts included further litigation to stop what he considered to be dubious timber sales after “blowdowns.”
From the guide to the Joseph L. Miller Papers, 1909-1995, 1971-1995, (Oregon Historical Society Research Library)
