Baxter Perry-Miller. Photo courtesy of Chris Kelley.
A ninth-grade student at St. Mark’s School of Texas is about to earn a rare award for his conservation work.
Baxter Perry-Miller is finishing up the final stages of a project at Bonton Farms to be eligible to receive the Distinguished Conservation Service Award Silver Honor, sometimes called the “Olympic Medal of Scouting.” Since the award was established in the 1930s, it has only gone to 114 scouts.
Perry-Miller had to plan, lead, complete and monitor three other conservation projects before helping with the Ravenview Road extension of Bonton Farms, where he is setting up a bee apiary in a section that was filled with invasive grasses. By June, the 15-year-old will have finished up the monitoring stage of the fourth project.
Previously, Perry-Miller built and installed wooden recycling bins on walking trails at the Trinity River Audubon Center, collected and disposed of more than 418 pounds of batteries, and released and tracked 111 pen-raised quail at the Lake Lewisville Environmental Learning Area.
Along the way, Perry-Miller helped his troop, Troop 838, earn a Unit Conservation Award, and individually, he received the 2021 Youth Conservation Award from the Quail and Upland Wildlife Federation.
“I’ve always wanted to make a positive impact on the environment, especially in a world where we’ve neglected our environment for so long,” Perry-Miller said. “Scouting has given me a chance to make that impact, and I hope this award will bring attention to a problem that demands our attention more than ever.”
