It’s like a hike, a treasure hunt and a puzzle all wrapped up in one, but it’s meant to teach families about Skagit’s watershed.

The Skagit Conservation Education Alliance took advantage of a recreational hobby with a cult-like popularity — letterboxing — but wanted it to promote awareness of Skagit’s waterways and the special care they need to stay healthy.

Letterbox questers — as SCEA Program Manager Pete Haase calls them — use sheet of clues to find 13 different locations as close as the Skagit Public Utility District main office on Freeway Drive and as far as the North Cascades National Park. The clues give driving directions to the park and hiking directions to a hidden plastic container containing educational material.

Public libraries in Mount Vernon, Anacortes, Sedro-Woolley and Concrete carry printouts with clues to the 13 boxes, or view them at http://www.scea.homestead.com/ltrbox.html.

Like standard letterboxing, the box holds a rubber stamp or stickers for box hunters to log in their own letterboxing notebook and a notebook for hunters to place their own stamp or sign their name. But these 13 boxes scattered across Skagit County also contain information about the nearby water and wildlife.

“We have a beautiful area here,” SCEA Program Manager Pete Haase said. “It’s an endless struggle to maintain it, and that’s what this is all about.”

Haase walked just off the trail at the Pomona Grange Park to drop off one of the 13 boxes that are all ready to be found as of today. This one, sponsored by SCEA, contains information about macroinvertebrates in the nearby Friday Creek.

After letterbox questers get their books stamped, they take a two-page printout from the box that guides them farther down the trail and by the water. There the questers can look for the larva of mayflies, stoneflies and caddisflies.

The hiking clues lead questers to an open area next to the creek with large rocks like stepping stones running across. Haase said it’s a perfect spot for families to search for macroinvertebrates. He imagined kids climbing out into the creek on the large rocks and exploring for bugs and waterlife.

“We’re hoping to give them a focused something to teach them more than ‘Hey, there’s bugs in here,’” Haase said.

The printout will explain which bugs suffer from water pollution and how the presence of mayflies, caddisflies and stoneflies indicate the water is healthy.

But Haase’s box is just one of many. Questers can also find boxes sponsored by 12 other agencies: The Washington State University Beach Watchers, Padilla Bay Estuarine Research Reserve, People for Puget Sound, Port of Skagit County, Taylor Shellfish, Skagit Public Utility District No. 1, the National Park Sevice, Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group, Skagit Land Trust, Skagit Conservation District and Master Composters/Recyclers.

“Every one of these groups has a stake in the health of the watershed,” Haase said.

Each group picked a location and educational topic to fit their purpose.

At the PUD office, questers will find information on the journey water takes from land to air and back to land before it goes into drinking glasses and bathrooms.

The WSU Beach Watchers placed a box in Sunset Beach with information about the area wildlife and when they’re most visible.

Corinne Story, a Skagit Health Department manager and an avid letterboxer, reminds questers about etiquette. Don’t disturb the area, and be discreet. Showing other questers where the boxes wait spoils the fun. After looking inside the box, make sure the waterproof bags are sealed and return the box to its original location.

Haase said the agency will check in on the boxes each week through October. After that, they’ll remove them and see how many people came. He wants to hold a party and award the people who found every box and hear everyone’s stories about the hunt.

If the project goes well, Haase wants to continue it again. He’s already thinking about improving the project in future summers. He’d like to consolidate the search area as much as possible to cut back on driving.

“We’re a little concerned about asking people to drive with gas prices the way they are,” Haase said.

But this idea has been brewing with SCEA for a number of years, and he’s glad to see it up and running.

“If we could get 10 more people out here to learn about the health of the creek and why it’s good that the bugs are here, we’ve done our job,” Haase said.