Amos Bien a native of Long Island, came to Stony Brook as a masters student in the 1970s, but his heart was in the tropical forests, which he knew to be in peril and wanted to save. He was especially interested in Costa Rica where forests were spectacularly diverse and being cut down rapidly. He spent time at Stony Brook working in several labs but he dreamed of moving to Costa Rica. And he did! He was brilliant in gathering funds to buy a large tract of land, near Las Horquetas de Sarapiquí, easily reached by bus, taxi or car from the capitol San Jose, but followed by a hair-raising trip by tractor up a muddy track and over rickety river bridges. Bob and Rosy Smolker, faculty member of E&E and administrator of the Quarterly Review of Biology respectively, donated much and visited Amos often to encourage his efforts. 

Bien quickly realized that administering a sustainable forest was too long term a project for him; the trees grew to majestic heights at very slow rates. So he shifted his efforts to tropical ecotourism and education. He established an ecotourism hotel facility, Waterfall Lodge,  with trails and knowledgeable guides who knew the biodiversity and dangers of the terrain. He also established a far more simple facility, El Plastico, geared to visits by student groups and (I think) converted from a prison facility. The beds were straw but the staff was just as friendly and knowledgable as at the hotel. Rara Avis became internationally known as a world-class ecotourism resort and education facility and still thrives. 

Amos was a major force in conservation and ecotourism in Costa Rica. He founded Rara Avis, was  a founding member of the Sarapiquí Conservation Learning Center Board, and was a leader in helping to establish the guidelines and criteria for sustainable tourism certification and worked with organizations such as the Global Sustainable Tourism Council and the Instrument for Environmental and Social Management (IUCN). He will be sorely missed by his family in Costa Rica and on Long Island. 

Many of us remember him at Stony Brook, but also in visits to Rara Avis. He was helpful, genuinely kind, and extended his household in San Jose to my son Nathan and me, and to so many others. We will miss him terribly.

Amos doing field work on Long Island, 1976. photo by Jeff Levinton.