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Benjamin Lilly

Los Altos, California
Boy Scout

In the spring of 2005, 13-year-old Benjamin Lilly celebrated his Bar Mitzvah, a Jewish coming-of-age ceremony. It is customary to give a portion of the money one receives for a Bar Mitzvah to charity, and Ben chose the Sierra Club, donating $800 to help protect northern New Mexico's Valle Vidal.

"I've always loved nature," Ben says. "Last summer I was the youngest in our Boy Scout troop to go on a 50-mile backpacking trip. It seemed fitting to give to a nature-related cause."

Ben, whose parents are Sierra Club members, learned about the Valle Vidal in an article, "Thirty-Hour Valley," in the March/April 2005 issue of Sierra. The 100,000-acre mountain basin of pristine meadows, forests, and streams, is home to New Mexico's largest elk herd. But Houston-based El Paso Corporation has its sights set on 40,000 acres of the Valle Vidal for coalbed methane drilling.

"There's a famous Boy Scout camp, Philmont Scout Ranch, in the neighboring valley, which would have to close if drilling proceeds," Ben says. "I've never been to Philmont, but I'd like to, and the thought of it closing down really bothered me."

Valle Vidal could supply the United States with a total of 30 hours' worth of natural gas. But it would become a sacrifice zone laced with roads, pipes, power lines, storage tanks, and drilling pads. "I saw these gorgeous photos of Valle Vidal," Ben says, "but realized that few people, even in my Boy Scout troop, had ever heard of it. I hope my money is put to good use and that the Valle Vidal can be saved."

Editor's note: On December 12, 2006, the Valle Vidal Protection Act was signed into law.

Published: April 24, 2007