Outdoors Maryland; 703

Coming up continuing efforts to keep the oil up on the farm. One man's fight to save some Chesapeake heritage from Time and Tide. And why Wednesday night racing in Annapolis is more than good claim. Next on outdoors my. Friends. They call rolling fields of barley and wheat and hay home.

Season the season from dawn to dusk and dawn again. They live to the rhythms of the line fiercely independent Marilyn's barn owls and Marilyn's family farmers share centuries of history. But now the forces of change have crested the horizon. In many agricultural areas family farms are becoming a threatened species and barn owls have also suffered an alarming decline. The Marilyn Natural Heritage Program has placed barn owls on the watch list. The barbell is very unique. They're in a genus all of their own they're separated from the other species of Owls because of lots of different characteristics. They they they have very long legs and they're used to hunting their food sources in deeper grass taller grass so they they fly low over their habitat and capture the their food sources voles and mice and such by plunging into the into the

grass. That's why agricultural areas are so important to support these animals but also they have much smaller eyes than the other species of Val's. They rely a great deal on their hearing ability to capture their prey. Studies have been done to show that they they can capture prey animals by by sound alone which is quite remarkable. There are some who are determined that barn owls do not disappear from Maryland's outdoors. Andy Brown chief naturalist for the Battle Creek bald Cypress Swamp preserve heads the Raptor Research Committee for the Barn Owl project established by the Calvert County Natural Resources Division and Southern Maryland Audubon Society naturalist Candace Morel also with the reserve is the barn project coordinator for Calvert County. The goal is to bring barn owls back from the brink by bringing them back to barns. Today the Naturalists are evaluating the Vons of the ancestral Prouty farm for possible placement of a barn

owl nest box. There's really no way of knowing how many active Knesset there are in the county. We only have one. Documented case of them using a nest box. We select the sites by the by looking at the the property. There's a lot of different variables that we try to consider. Obviously the habitat The surrounding the barn what fields are being planted in what crops are being grown there. The change in agricultural practices has had a has an effect on their population as well. The main food source of the bar now is the meadow vole the meadow bulls do not like Roe crops which are say corn and tobacco and beans anything that you plan to grow they might have both prefers to live in green fields. This farm that we chose today is an ideal site because the farmers told us that they will be planting grain crops barley and wheat for the majority of the nesting season for the barn owls. In the case of the praties there was no resistance to placing a barn owl nest box on their farm. John C. Prodi also an attorney is a farmer rights activist.

Well I guess you could characterize me as activists both on the part of wildlife and agriculture because the same part of the same day. I think anyone who has grown up on a farm that becomes part of their life forever. That's one of the reasons that that doing something like putting up a barn owl house means something to me. And if we can make some kind of a little affirmative step and that's just that's a small thing but if it means something to help restore a population that used to be a big part of of our wildlife here then it's something good. John a priority is determined to keep farming a family tradition against a rising tide of development. Since the 1860s my family on my mother's side were the people who own this farm and I'm left only because I haven't died yet. I want my son to have a ball. We were not here it would be anyone. They still come to where the farming is for food.

My eyes would be my life for the corn that feeds them. And so therefore they're with me. Well in Calvert County in southern Maryland as a region our farms really do act as wildlife preserves largely because there's such a variety of land associated with each farm of a combination of open fields woodland and in a lot of cases of marshland associated with our creeks and streams and rivers. These are things that that haven't changed. While every time a farm is is converted some of those trees and a lot of that habitat are lost. One more barn on this farm remains a candidate as a possible nest box site or very secretive in their nature. They're very sensitive to human disturbance. So in selecting a nest site we try to pick the barn that's the most isolated from human activity. We have the barn owls have been present in the past. You'll find evidence of their activities in the barn. The droppings appear as as large white

wash on the beams inside Alz produce something called a pellet. When they ingest their their prey items they are very efficient in digesting it but they cannot digest bones hair and claws and teeth as a result they regurgitate a little packet of this material. You'll find them in the bottom of the barn. That's measurable that it will last year we erected six boxes and this year we added six more of the original six we have one nest site that was actually used that was unexpected. We were very excited about that. We would consider one more nest box being used to be a success for a project. You know the guy Hello All right. He. Did get gummy. We cannot check the nest boxes until the middle of June because if you disturb the mother

in any way she will abandon the nests and and we will have to start all over again she will never come back. Hopefully by the middle of June they will have hatched and once they start hatching then we do check the boxes to see how successful the box was and we can hopefully. And the young in the mother at the same time. The June survey of all barn owl project nest boxes brings disappointment to the proud father. There are no barn owls to band here this year. You know that do you think we have enough in the sun. But the project is deemed a success when another box is discovered to harbor a new nest. Although the plot has already fledged and foam. A. There. Is no noise.

They're gone and so the methodical survey of project nest boxes on other barns continues. There's the box. OK let's try to buy. There are a lot of white wash and some pellets Yeah. But tobacco is probably sitting up on top of that the back of their protectors. Yeah I feel safe. Look at you. Oh yeah. Oh. Right. Like I don't know I don't know. What a beautiful bird. Going. To see if he's hiding in the back you know. Count your count is gone now. Yeah.

Right. Right. OK band number is 9 8 7 1 2 8 7 5. A lot of people. Should. OK I get it. I think he's I think it's about eight weeks. It.

Was six twenty five. Good. So it's a female female that's a good. Time. You go ahead and hold the wing out. You take a look at that fourth primary right. There you go. Two hundred and ten hundred. These bans are registered with U.S. mission Wildlife Service where all the data comes from that's how we know where the birds and asked where they disburse after they leave been asked where they go how long they live. Longevity comes from the same show. But out some to be really really valiant after they've declined very rapidly. They can make a very rapid comeback. This resilience is one reason why we feel very hopeful about this project. If we provide enough nesting sites for them and they discover them

we feel that they can make a very rapid comeback in this area and perhaps around the whole country. John Gill see something that most of us don't. He sees a day when the life supporting Chesapeake Bay Islands of Maryland can only be found in maritime museums and in the memories of local water. A U.S. Fish and Wildlife field biologist John Gill measures time in his life's work is dedicated to salvaging what is left of our Chesapeake Bay island habitats. These pristine islands are home to many native birds each year and they are washing away under a steady tide man through his recreational activities can only be partly blamed for these fading Island environments.

Mother Nature is reclaiming her own through the powerful pull of erosion. In the 1950s mid 50s Bodkin was roughly seven acres in size. At that time produced over one hundred and nine black duck pears and nests as recently as six years ago when it eroded down to less than an acre in size it still produced 54 black duck and Mallard nests. At present it's probably more valuable as a colonial would have would have it that there's no eager to out there cattle we grits gravy grits. Little blue herons green Herron's and last time I was out there we saw I would estimate over a 200. The island was completely protected by wooden baldhead and stone armoring. The

box had been with boards fault that it's failed at several locations and I'm going out basically to see how significant that damage is. Measure it and try to come up with a Ducks Unlimited cost fair Grant. See if we can fix it. If the revetments that has been breached is allowed to remain unrepaired Bodkin island will certainly disappear. Not all the island school visits are quite as small as bokken but they all suffer from serious erosion problems. Barren Island is a national wildlife refuge. The satellite Black Water National Wildlife Refuge. Along its entire few miles the western shoreline. It was eroding at a rate up to 14 feet per year. And we were losing National Wildlife Refuge lands and species such as Black scam or great blue herons a bald eagle with. Turns.

The islands are eroding for a series of reasons some natural some anthropomorphic. We have ship way. We have sea level rise and then we have Delmarva Peninsula societ subsides all those factors are exacerbating erosion on Chesapeake Bay Islands. That erosion from the Chester river down to Smith Island this ongoing work is necessary. In the last 150 years Maryland has lost over ten thousand five hundred acres of valuable Island habitat. Due to erosion. On barren island state of the art techniques are being used to recapture lost ground. Like. Yeah like that like that the five more days of over down it really that went up when. We got together with a core here and came up with a project utilizing Geo textile fabric break whatever or simply a new technical fabric sewn into a sock that is pumped for great material. You

think you're three feet in diameter to seven feet diameter. Up to 100 feet long. Once they're filled they're like this rock hard rock. We deployed them in off shore segmented configuration which still allow us tidal inundation in the marsh we're going to build. After the marches created John Gill and others will return to plant smoove car grass and salt marsh hay. Subsidence is a problem we really can't counteract. But at least for the next let's say 50 years or for long after I'm retired we'd like to maintain that island. We want to maintain it not only for its nesting habitat value but that island provides quiescence shallow water for a very large submerged aquatic vegetation bed which supports the local watermen on your buy hoopers Island. Looking for a nice. Realty. Building. I'm please with the elevations be nice if we get some friendly weather and winds.

This work demands a respect for and a determined disregard of erosions persistent work. And it is necessary to think on a grand scale. On Poplar Island a massive wetland is being designed that will restore the island to its mid 18:00 footprint. A roughly eleven hundred acres. In so doing will provide the port with 38 million cubic yards of capacity for clean dried material. Often the main stem Bay shipping channel. Half of that habitat will be up when nesting. For bird. Half will be intertidal wetlands for crabs and fish as well as feeding sites for wading birds. Bob said it will just run across and let it keep right on if it goes on by the end of that bag. All along the shoreline. Well there's a chance that we collect. Oh I'm sure it would. The drift that drifted around here is definitely sound. Yeah and I was bagged breakwaters. Might allow it to just accrete on its own. I mean we will get on site on Monday and talk you know specifically where you're thinking

of them and then they will hammer out. Bill's job is hard on nerves and requires long hours he has to balance the deep attachment he feels when not you Larry and. My. Concerns surrounding his job. Hardest of all he has to resist the urge to give in to the repetitive lapping of the waves based on existing. Predictions. And you know present erosion rates. I know 50 years from now. If we do nothing. Poplar island is going to be gone. Most of barren island is going to be gone. Bodkin island is going to be gone. Actually I feel like a biologist that's going out to unique remote habitat. Which I enjoy very much. But once I get out there mainly what I'm looking at is OK. Should I try to protect this island. With the Fish and Wildlife utilization Merrett.

The area where I want to place drag material does it support other resources and concerns me that a shellfish bettors emerge aquatic vegetation bed. And many times I go out on islands and go this is really pretty but it's going. Rouge. We try to be as ject and scientific as possible and we also have Monday considerations like how far is this island away from over the channel and if that channel is over five miles that's more than a double hump that's going to be really expensive and maybe the tour isn't going to do it so even though I really want to save this island economically it's not feasible. It can be so peaceful. The serenity of gliding along. As exciting as one of these sailors admits as watching grass grow. But then. The adrenaline kicks in.

And things. Go when you're going at even six or seven and not stand there are a lot of boats around you. Each of them trying to get on the starting line with speed at the gun. It is probably one of the most exciting things that you can do. And that's what brings Pete Shelley and his 12 man crew out to the Severn River and the bay for 20 summer Wednesday evenings along with a few hundred of their closest friends and competitors. The Annapolis yacht club race committee has a big responsibility. It runs the biggest most prestigious Wednesday night race series in the country. Carl. You will do the check All right. Karen will be on the clock. Twenty minutes till the first gun the start of six races for six different classes or sizes of boats. We'll check the wind and all have of course is a dying want to. Race chairman Bob Wolfe fourth delays setting the course for the race to last minute because

the wind keeps shifting. When the crash boat finally gets the word and drops the marker for a key turn in the course there are dozens of boats already dancing around the company boat. All jockeying for position to be just crossing the line at full speed when the gun goes off. I don't. Want a hundred and ninety where over only. Two skippers misjudged they'll lose precious time by circling to cross the start again. Of more jellies nor to express their going over the course and watching for a close rival. Right on us to 25. A smooth start but sometimes the wind defies any maneuvering and shifts right at

the gun. Sales quickly changed to catch the new conditions. It's frantic to dangerous as the big boats rush toward each other. Eventually they do sort it out on or off for their first march. And. All of a sudden a surprise ramrod heads off in an unexpected direction. Maybe they'll find more wind. It does not follow. He chases puffs of breeze carefully making his way to the first turn. Family guy very gently yell but attacking. Or he. Will kneel. Nice job guys.

And as they were on the boy. It's time to change sales. The lone crewman on the forward deck raises the spinnaker while others keep tension on the lines. Again they're chasing breezes puffs of air and as they hit the next Mark ramrods there are two or three hundred. While they're watching their chief nemesis they can't forget there are other boats in this race to. The bay bridges behind them now they've covered that landmark part of the course but they'll be another darn the wind won't be behind them anymore which means another sail change but jet ready. We're going to go up to the mark and then drop the kite. But up ahead so it was not an American film. That's the editor. Shelley's worried though the wind is light and getting lighter. The spot is not as good and lighter as it is and above tend not to me been averaging

about three to four knots. The greatest part of the race figured that she would up and drawing in a role like that you could sail like that forever. Or ever or at least to the finish line where the first classes to start are reaching hard for victory. Only a few got the gun. Right. Well the race committee clocks the man the Yacht Club crowd turns the finish into a very social spectator sport. But back out on the river and bay the fleet has run into trouble. The wind is dying. Shelly's crew thinks the committee might shorten the race in the short and dad saw flashing 11 are in seawater surely archrival Ramrod is off their brow. But Shelley knows the handicaps. Each

boat carries almost like an golf would make Nordic express the winner like the head of us but they owe us a bunch of time. And then they hear a quick succession of faint cannon shots from the clubhouse. Really I go to the RIGHT NOW DON'T TELL ME. I just cancel the race I tell you. Shelly jokes that ramrod skipper radioed back to the committee suggesting just that. Come on bird take Bryson. They try to cover their disappointment with humor. Looking back at the Fleet still in the bay Shelley knows it was a good call. Those guys are be out there for another two hours. But committee chairman will fourth take his life in his hands when he cancels a race. They wouldn't miss one of the races for I don't know what they might take the wife's people would keep them away from a race. It's got gross. Sailboat racing is a state of mind not just something to do on Wednesday nights.

The fans that if you see the sailboat selling in the same direction you're racing even if they swear they're not. Oh. It's just. It's. It's. It's it's it's. It's. IT'S IT'S IT'S IT'S IT'S IT'S IT'S. Yes. S. s. s. s..