"I grew up in a family that valued the environment," he said.

Miller is now President of Wildwood/Mahonia, a family of locally owned and environmentally conscious businesses. They include a private urban design and development firm and Mahonia Vineyards and Nursery, Inc., which specializes in wholesale, sustainably grown, native plants of the Pacific Northwest, as well as grapevines and wine grapes.  Even the company's office, the Old Pringle School, which Miller remodeled as a "green" building before green standards such as LEED were available, is an example of sustainability.  

Ever mindful of the environment, one of Miller's developments includes the Woodscape Community in southeast Salem, a group of homes built to complement the terrain, watershed, and existing native trees. The newest phase of the Woodscape Community, Woodscape Green, is the first subdivision built in the mid-valley requiring all the homes to qualify for the Earth Advantage and Energy Star certification programs.  

"I'm really hands-on in the projects we do," Miller said, describing an approach that continues years after his developments are complete and livable. For example, they recently removed English Ivy from the grounds, an invasive species once thought to be useful for erosion control, and replaced it with native plants. A native Oregonian, Miller is keen on preserving and promoting native plants and Mahonia Vineyards and Nursery often salvages trees from areas under development.  

"The oak savanna is a rare and fragile resource in Oregon," Miller said.

In all of Miller's activities, he aims to be in harmony with the environment and to allow it to offer its wisdom.  

"It's fun to fit the development to the land instead of the other way around," Miller says. "With the `design with nature' approach, you can learn so much from just looking around you, instead of imposing something on it."