Quests & Resources

The First Quest: a forest scavenger hunt for young land stewards.

First Quest

The Forest Scavenger Hunt

Find at least 7 of these 10 (skip up to 3), notice each with your senses, and have a grown-up initial your sheet to earn your first Redwood token, the Scavenger.

Keep it tight. Stay on the trails, tiny plants and roots are easily crushed.

Save a bear’s life. Never feed wildlife; store food tight. “A fed bear is a dead bear.”

Look, don’t taste. Never eat anything wild unless a trusted adult says it’s safe. Poison oak: “leaves of three, let it be.”

#	Find	What to look for
1	Coast Redwood	Tallest trees on Earth, tip your head WAY back. Hug the trunk: how many friends to reach around?
2	Redwood Sorrel	A carpet of little green “shamrocks.” Watch one in a sunbeam, it may fold its leaves down.
3	Sword Fern	Tall fronds; each leaflet has a tiny “hilt.” Ferns are older than dinosaurs!
4	Banana Slug	Yellow and slow, the forest’s clean-up crew. Find one (don’t pick it up).
5	Pacific Rhododendron	Big pink flower clusters in late spring. Spot a bloom or bud.
6	Huckleberry	Shiny leaves, tiny dark berries. (Taste only if a grown-up says yes.)
7	Salal	Leathery leaves, dark blue berries dried into cakes by Native peoples.
8	Western Trillium	Three leaves, three white petals. Look, but DO NOT pick it.
9	Douglas-fir	Find a cone; look for tiny “mouse tails” between the scales!
10	Salmonberry	Pink flowers, then orange-red raspberry-like berries by early summer.

This land is the homeland of the Yurok and Tolowa peoples, the redwood coast’s first stewards. A printable version with an adult reference guide (facts + citations) is available.

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