Once a golf course, Cherry Valley National Wildlife Refuge near Stroudsburg is now a haven for birds, butterflies, bees and other pollinators.

For families who enjoy a fun challenge, there are worlds to discover, and Brodhead Watershed Association offers a scavenger hunt to encourage adventure.

Sharp-eyed kids will find at least five distinct habitats - a sunny meadows, stream, and brush pile are three of them. Another is the small wetlands where native cattails grow, home to red-winged blackbirds, wetland plants, frogs, salamanders and turtles. Stretches of forest habitat provide a shady retreat along the creek and also line the upland boundaries of the old golf course, where you might see the opening of a groundhog burrow, coyote scat or white-tailed deer.

Wood turtles, bog turtles, rabbits, foxes, bears and bobcats thrive as their habitats return. Fish, aquatic plants, water striders and other bugs are coming back, too.

“Nature does most of the work,” says Jared Green, refuge manager of CVNWR for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “We humans help by cutting out the fertilizers and insecticides that hurt the creek. Then we just get out of the way.”

The scavenger hunt is fun for adults and elementary-age children. Get clues, photos, video and information at brodheadwatershed.org/gopoconos. Take only pictures and leave only shadows.

Cherry Valley National Wildlife Refuge is off Cherry Valley Road south of Stroudsburg.

For information: info@brodheadwatershed.org or 570-839-1120.