The Kearney Lake Nature Patrol needs your help to solve the great “Stolen Seed Caper.” Seeds are mysteriously disappearing from nearby trees. Your assignment is to find out how and why. You’ll need to search for clues and track down witnesses. Put on your official Nature Patrol badges, and be careful – it’s a forest out there!

Prove to the Kearney Lake trees that you are the best detectives for the job. Find:

• a leaf as big as your hand
• a needle from a tree
• a tree with bumpy bark
• a tree with smooth bark
• something that smells neat
• listen for the call of a bird

If you’ve found everything, you’re ready for the job

The first piece of evidence is under your feet. Use your keen eyes to find seeds that the thief left behind. Don’t forget that seeds come from flowers and berry bushes as well. Are you ready?

1. Take 30 giant steps up the trail and stop.
2. Take out your string tool and make a circle on the ground with it.
3. Get down on your hands and knees.
4. Search for as many different kinds of seeds as possible inside the string.
5. Put the seeds in your special evidence-collecting bag.
6. Repeat these steps twice more to gather more evidence.

Once the seeds are collected, go to the large spruce tree with large exposed roots in the middle of the trail ahead (about 140 metres from the start, where to your right you can see the roof of the boat club through the trees). Spread the seeds out on the ground and group the different types together. How many different types did you find? Put one of each type in your evidence-collecting bag and leave the rest behind.

Did you find the big seed holders that come off of needle trees? These are:

and a lot of them have gone missing.

Rumour has it that the thief stole the seeds and hid them in small caves in the rock wall. In case the thief is still hiding there, disguise yourself as a small, dark forest creature. Pick up a handful of dirt and dead leaves and rub it on your face. Stick a fallen leaf behind each ear. Stick more fallen leaves in the collar of your shirt or jacket.

Crouch down to half your height. Get really close to the side of the rock wall. Stay low so you’re not seen. Creep along slowly. Shine your flashlight into every hole or cave to investigate. Where do these caves lead? What do you see?

The thief has to

to get up to the higher caves.

As you head to the next stop, don’t miss the giant old pine tree off the trail to the right about 20 meters from the last stop. The thief uses it to get a beautiful view of the lake from the top. Give it a giant hug!

This rock has a face in it. To see it, stand with the rock on your left. Take 15 giant steps down the main trail. Now turn around to discover the rock’s sideways (profile) face. Can you see it? This fellow missed the goings on because he was looking the other way.

The next big rock on the left did see the thief. To meet this rock stand with it to your left and take 15 giant steps down the trail again. Look back; can you make out the hair, eyes, nose and mouth? When you see the face, draw it in your Adventure Journal. Give the rock a name.

This rock caught a glimpse of the thief hiding under the fallen tree just down the trail. All the rock saw was the thief’s

which gives the thief balance.

Face down the trail and go 15 metres to the fallen tree on the left. Although the tree is dead, baby trees are growing right where the old roots were. It grew from a seed. But how did the seed get there?

Do you see Itty Bitty Island? Islands are good places for thieves to bury their loot. Is this a good island for burying seeds?

The lonely tree says that you can’t dig holes in solid rock! The tree wants a friend, but Itty Bitty Island needs more soil for a seed to grow. Please make soil for the island. Give this topsoil recipe a try.

Ingredients

1. A handful of small sticks
2. A handful of dead, flat leaves
3. A handful of dead needles
4. Two rocks smaller than your fingernail

Find a flat rock nearby as big as a small plate. Place the sticks, needles and leaves together on the plate and mix together well. Rub the two small rocks over the mixture to break off small bits. Stir well. Crush the mixture with one of the rocks to try to make topsoil.

Is it turning into soil? It’s hard to do. It will take a very long time to get enough soil to plant a seed. In fact, it takes 100 years to make one centimetre of topsoil. You don’t have that much time! Return the rocks and ingredients to where you found them.

The tree appreciates that you tried to help and gives you a clue in return: she heard that the thief made a

as a place to sleep at night in a tree back on land. Look for one of these in the trees nearby.

Sources say that the thief is

only about three times as tall as a little green plant spotted nearby called wintergreen.

1. Look to the right across the trail from the pine tree for a small patch of wintergreen.
2. Find a short stick that is about three times as high as this plant: the thief’s height.
3. Get down on the ground and without picking the leaf, scratch and sniff it.

What does it smell like? Try some other sniffs as you walk to the next stop.

Do you know who it is yet? Review the six clues you’ve found so far. Guess! A nearby tree informant indicates that the thief is a

If you find this tree informant, you’ll find the thief. Spot the biggest tree within 10 steps of the centre of the trail fork (it is on the lakeside of the trail, directly next to the trail). It has many dead branches near its bottom. Barkprint the informant for evidence.

1. Put your barkprint form over the bark.
2. Rub the side of your pencil over it to see the pattern.

Now stand next to the tree, facing the lake. Take 10 steps into the woods towards the lake. The hidden plaque is behind a broad-leafed tree standing in a gang of other trees. It reveals the identity of the thief. Use the side of your pencil or crayon to make a rubbing in your Adventure Journal. Take a picture of where you think the best home for the thief would be. Upload the photo below to the gallery if you want.

The plaque symbol is:

The seeds you collected should be returned to the soil: plant them nearby. Make small holes in the ground with your finger, place a seed in each hole and cover it.

Congratulations, you have solved the mystery! To explore further, continue along the trail around Kearney Lake. It goes another eight kilometres and comes out onto Kearney Lake Road. There are many other trails that go off the main trail, so keep the lake on your right as you go.