Staying Local

We can still be a community of people who love the outdoors, even while socially distanced. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we will provide you with local walk inspiration and backyard activities to help you connect with nature during this strange time.

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Try these backyard exploration activities:

How many different species can you find? During one 15-minute period in late March, we saw and heard 36 different species in a backyard in Strafford. Can you beat that number? (you don't need to be able to identify everything, just to be able to know that it is a unique species)

Backyard Bingo! The first person to find all the items in a 'bingo' pattern (5 items in a line vertically, horizontally, or diagonally) wins eternal bragging rights among your quaran-team. Choose between a bird-specific bingo card or a New Hampshire landscape bingo card (or both!)

Backyard Bird Bingo!

NH landscape bingo

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Our Scavenger Hunt contest is over but you can still use it to inspire exploration and excitement about your backyard finds.


Scavenger Hunt Rules:

• Up to 5 items can be cross counted (for instance, pine cones contain seeds)
• Sign of a difficult to find animal is acceptable in place of a visual sighting. For instance, finding a fox will be very tricky indeed, but you might come across its hair, scat, or den- and that absolutely counts as having detected a fox!
• The “Extra” section does not need to be completed but for every “Extra” you can forgo two of the harder items in other categories.
• Last but not least, please feel free to share the locations of any difficult to find items on the list! Although this is technically a “contest,” our goal is to foster enjoyment of the outdoors and a sense of community during these stressful times.

Scavenger Hunt Form

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In order to minimize impact on the trails :

• Avoid areas you know are usually wet after a rainstorm
• Give the earth time to absorb the water before you walk
• Don’t detour through another low spot- it is likely also wet, and will lead to the creation of a new muddy trail
• If possible, stick to high ground or dry spots when detouring
• If you can safely walk on fallen logs or stones, do so
• Stay as close to the original trail as possible
• If there’s another trail you can take, consider that
• Carry a portable bog bridge with you and use that (just kidding)