Outdoors Maryland; 809

Coming up. Witnessing natural paradox a creature that brings to the Marilyn Marsh both beauty and destruction paddled out a once forgotten river now rediscovered and reclaimed. By journey deep into the corners of a Maryland forest in search of a shy reclusive and endangered. Outdoors Marylanders produced in cooperation with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. DNR inspired by nature. Pre-dawn at Bombay Hooke National Wildlife Refuge. Well over

100000 greater snow geese sit in the marsh. Without warning the thunderous cloud of birds rises off. The white bodies of these greater snow geese glow in the rose colored. Why dismay at the sight of these magnificent creatures rising into flight. Larry Hindman of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Well this greater Snow whose population has increased tremendously over the last couple of decades basically has outpaced our ability to manage the birds traditional honey

and markets. From the northernmost range in the Arctic to their wintering grounds in the mid-Atlantic the greater snow goose population has exploded from about 50000 in the mid 60s to six hundred seventy five thousand in the spring of 1998. Nearly a half million snow geese will winter in Maryland and Delaware in 1999. Why the dramatic increase. Well you've had an increase in greater snow geese because they adapted to feeding in agricultural fields. Snow geese are prospering on their new diet. And the veracious appetite required to keep up their body heat is causing problems. Les Terry of the U.S. Department of Agriculture provides a kit to farmers who want to rid themselves of snow geese. It includes various types of flag material and firecracker like loads to scare the birds off.

The snow geese will come in. Many times and yes completely wipe the field out. And there's no way for the field to recover. So it's a livelihood thing with a farmer. Yeah they're beautiful animals. Dan Patrick watch fly but when you see your next year profit fly away in your bellies you get upset. Because nobody's been there seven they're. Waiting and they're. Praying. Ed Mumford and Ed Han are landowners adjacent to Newport creek and watch District County have a different Snow Goose complained one that concerns the loss of the luxury of salt marshes that bordered the creek on their property. I've been here for about 45 year up until about 10 years ago it was it was intact and all the snow goose started arriving and

started running and more. At night I take my boat out and ride out on a Martian ride along the creeks to just kind of scare the geese away. But thinking about it now you know is that being a good neighbor scared the geese from my Marsh to someone else's Marsh the snow goose lead the salt marshes of Newport creek at dawn heading out to nearby farm fields or sitting on a nearby manmade pond. They returned to the salt marshes at sunset during their overnight roost and they dig down in the marsh to reach the roots of the abundant and important core gress. Unlike Canada geese that graze or just clip

top off the grass. These birds actually grow and remove the whole root stock and and plant. The end result is is that they create openings in the marsh and then with the wind and wave action entitle reaction that increases the size of that opening into a pond and eventually you end up with denuded mud flats because of further erosion. A little further down the road Robin stump in Chincoteague Bay is a dramatic example of snow goose damage to salt marsh. Bill Parnell and his brother own the land. It started about Night Train 92. And it was kind of gradual we didn't pay much attention to it. And last year. The last year to top it all I guess. It just gets ruined or makes you sick to your stomach when you're sitting standing or look at it.

Well I remember 30 35 years ago I beautiful it was and how it was even hard to walk across the garden what grasses were so thick and where she can't walk across and I go there's mud you sneak up to your area and. With federal and state support the final brothers are fighting back. They plan to fill in the island so that cord grass can be reintroduced. Afterward they'll have to keep snow geese from feeding on the new sprouts. The plan is a long shot but one the point held by others are willing to take. This piece of Marjorie's worth saving. And if I can get it back close to what it was you know I want to stay here for a long time otherwise it's going to break through bait not want on is going to be three or four hours. The habitat damage created by these well-fed and healthy snow geese in and around their Maryland Virginia feeding grounds is troublesome but it doesn't compare with the

problems the birds are causing at their northernmost range in the Arctic. The impact there is potentially catastrophic. Snow geese are causing severe damage to the Arctic tundra where thousands of square miles of critical tundra habitat have been severely impacted. Basically what they do is but too many geese they overgraze the habitat the habitat becomes basically bare ground. The salinity of the habitat changes. So that's definitely makes it difficult for plants to recover with the short growing season there. It's unlikely that those habitats might recover. You know even in a few decades with the population at its current level the greater snow goose problem is receiving priority treatment among concerned conservationists who fear the balance of nature is being disturbed by

the birds burgeoning population. The main means of control is actively being encouraged. Managers believe the take of snow geese must increase from 12 percent of the annual fall flight to 25 percent in order to stabilize the population. As this population of birds as increased we've we've liberalized the honey regulations on greater snow geese to the point that we allow the maximum season length allowed on the Migratory Bird created one hundred seven days. And yet we haven't been able to control this population. Some experts say a population crash an epidemic or several hard waters followed by a short breeding seasons are the only natural events that will stop the greater snow goose population explosion.

Still as they lift off on a cold crisp Maryland winter's day. Many find it hard to believe this beautiful creature. This paradox of nature causes so much destruction. There are lost rivers in America so polluted they are thought beyond hope. And help. The Anacostia which flows them a gummer in Prince George's County Maryland was once such a forgotten river but forgotten no more. The Anacostia watershed society led by founder and director Robert Bowen recognizes that the ecological restoration of a forgotten river depends in part on first restoring the river to the historic memory and daily awareness of the people in its watershed. They must once again claim the river as their own. It's quirky by ways. It's open

source. It's astonishingly resilient wildlife. Observe now if you would play and just see the bow into the water. Parents tell the kids to stay away from the river. Stay away from them. One of the most outstanding non manmade resources in the whole region stay away. What kind of message does that send to your sense of you're fitting into the picture of the planet and where your place is on it. The Anacostia water sense is that it brings people to the river and you know once they get on the river and experience it they love it. And then there will be our allies to restore it. And that's our basic strategy. The Anacostia River which begins near Albany Maryland drains nearly one hundred seventy six square miles of watershed before emptying into the Potomac River in Washington D.C.. Ultimately the Anacostia is a tributary to the Chesapeake Bay and cleaning up the bay means reclaiming rivers like the Anacostia.

The Anacostia watershed society with hundreds of volunteers has removed over 200 tons of debris from the river planted 8000 trees. And given tours to over 2000 and today's tour sets off from Bladensburg merino where the Anacostia becomes tight. Here the river runs deep. In history. And so this close your eyes for a minute. In this image this place in 17 19. This river right here was 40 feet. And a half. Think about it. Forty feet. 79 even with three masted schooner sailing Bladensburg Washington was just an image in some people's mind. It is a slave market here. The whole scene was happening right here this river to me is is my symbol and metaphor for the good in the bad of who we are. And. I'm I'm focusing my time along with a lot of

other good so in trying to heal this river. As an avenue toward healing our culture. But that's what we have ahead of us here and now there's been funds from the state. To renovate the place. We're pushing hard to have a public boathouse here so that people can keep their own boats here and come out and play on the river and enjoy it. And enjoy the wildlife that's really seriously coming back here big time. So let's go down the river now and and see what we can see. Next stop historic intrigue and an unexpected excursion. This is my favorite part of the river a place that Robert showed me years ago. It's called doing creek and the reason it has that name is because back in the 19th century it was against the law to

have Dools in the District of Columbia. And so this is where folks set up when they had an argument in Congress or otherwise and they wanted to come out here and settle the score and they had a duelling ground up here a little ways as we move up here you're going to feel like you're entering some sort of a Louisiana bayou. Back on the river the capital city approaches. The Anacostia is I call it our nation's urban river because not all rivers are the same and one clean distinction is between urban rivers and rule rivers. The impact the urban Rivers typically are sediment. Stormwater. Sewage. Toxics and trash. That's just your basic fire. And if you went to New York or L.A. or any urban area. There's always a river there and that's going to be the problem. Further downstream Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens and Marsh demonstrate the rivers

resilience. And potential. If we had paddled in here before 1992 what you would see here would be just a huge mud flat log. Just a barren mud flat. What they did was they drove stakes in the ground in the put hay bales and then they pumps the river sediment behind the hay bales and raise the elevation of the mud flats enough so that these emergent plants could thrive. They planted some 30000 plants but soon as they planted the thing just took off they just burst into life. This wetland in the spring is just humming with with life is just incredible. The interstate Commission has assessed tested the water here and is from 60 to 80 percent cleaner leaving here they come in in. The dish owes you how they these plants they take up the nutrients they clean the water. It's kind of like an immune system for the river it's a way of healing and cleaning in and taking up the toxins.

The next stop shows good healing the river is the responsibility of all who dwell in the watershed. The only man made structures from planes were down to Benning Road is the Pepco plant. It's a big plant and generates electricity for the metro system. And for air conditioning in Washington D.C. including the federal facilities White House and Congress and so forth. And there's been some concern about the air pollution generated by this plant and Pepco has been rather responsive with the community to address that. Deeper into the city more pressing or other problems. Like many urban rivers the Anacostia is subjected to combined sewer I'll fall during storms. Right over here you see three tunnels that are coming out three out balls. That's about sewer outfall right there. And. Every year in the part of Health estimates there's 1.2 billion gallons of raw sewage into

the waters every year. You know that's outrageous that's still going on. As the river approaches low tide it's time to disembark but not to disengage. So that's enough. The reason I do what I feel the urgency of our time right now and the passing we need to bring things we take for granted. That's a funny thing about reverse that all the humans were to disappear the rivers would heal up the slightest cracks. We can disappear. But learn to live. In peace with ourselves. And we do that we'll be able given the environment. Black Water National Wildlife Refuge on Maryland's Eastern Shore is best known as the home of migrating geese. Magnificent Eagles and statuesque where a few visitors come just to see one of the refuges lower profile residents. A

little known squirrel called the Delmarva fox squirrel. In fact were it not for the warning signs to drivers many visitors wouldn't even know. The refuge was home to this reclusive forest dwelling on the whole yet Blackwater has one of the largest remaining populations of the Delmarva. Fox world which is on the federal endangered species list and recently the refuge has become the focal point for some intriguing squirrel studies. It's tangled. Those studies may hold clues not only to ensuring the squirrel's survival but to reducing the kinds of heated battles that have plagued many endangered species protection efforts around the country. Delmarva fox squirrels get their name from their luxury is tail reminiscent of a fox's tail and they're striking another way. This refuge biologist William geesey.

It's a large gray squirrel with a long flowing tail probably at least one and a half to two times big as a normal gray squirrel you see in yours your city and type environment. But unlike the grey squirrel fox squirrels have not adopted well to the Habitat loss that has occurred with development of the Delmarva Peninsula. Originally the squirrel was found up and down the Delmarva Peninsula into a Pennsylvania and over in the southern part of New Jersey. It was put on the endangered list in 1957 primarily because of the range restriction of the squirrels were because it was found in only four counties here on the eastern shore. As is often the case with endangered species little is known about the Delmarva Fox world because it's found in so few places he is trying to gather basic data on the squirrel so wildlife managers can make more informed decisions about a 12 fer we have set up a benchmark site here on the refuge to look at the population that normally occurs here and part of that

study involves the nest boxes that have been placed throughout the forest and we will go into those in that area at night time when the squirrels are using the boxes to climb the tree with the nest box in it. We normally would check these boxes on a fairly cold night. We hope that it encourages the use of these boxes by the squirrels to increase or capture. The male. More activity here. Well. Back on the ground the biologists extract the squirrel to weigh it and determine its sex to its adult male. Swans tag as well. The year tags allow researchers to identify each of the squares that are caught and to continue to collect data on them when they're recaptured in future trapping sessions.

The results of this long term study of the benchmark sites will hopefully produce some information on a normal one population peaks and valleys of production. The normal sex and age ratios that occur in a population and hopefully all that information will give us the background data to manage the squirrels here but also to help us to go in to evaluate future transplant sites to further their understanding of those sites. Protecting endangered species also means anticipating threats to its survival. For habitat Delmarva fox squirrels seem to need a mature forest made up of loblolly pine and hardwood trees. But the major threat may be looming as forests on the Delmarva Peninsula continue to mature and are logged or otherwise cleared for development. Carol both study a wildlife biologist with the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research

Center is spearheading one of several studies to address that issue. We can see the writing on the wall we feel your harvesting is taking place on the peninsula and we want to come up with a way that people can get the value for their timber. But we don't lose the fox world in the process. The problem for the squirrels is that the common logging method on the eastern shore is clear cutting. Evan Smith the forester with the Conservation Fund because loblolly pine needs sunlight to regenerate as a seedling. They tend to do clear cuts which is the most efficient way of removing the timber from the land and trying to promote regeneration of planted seedlings perceptions are that clear cuts because they remove all aspects of a mature forest from the site are very bad for this well. So the researchers have devised an alternative method of harvesting timber harvest.

What I would call a modified clear cut with reserves and that we designated islands within the harvest that would be left untouched. The uncut islands are designed to provide habitat for the squirrels but the only way to see if this approach works is to actually logo portion of the habitat. The harvest will occur on land adjoining Blackwater refuge land owned by the Conservation Fund. For the past two years researchers have been busy trapping squirrels other proposed logging sites to collect information about the populations in those areas. So lactating female. She's clearly got full. Points. Now as logging is about to begin and the first of the three harvest sites the researchers return to that area to trap more squirrels. All right we got one. The purpose is to outwit the squirrels with the radio collars.

I can still get my finger completely under it. Let's see if it'll come. That looks good. I think that's perfect. The radio collar will give us information about the world and media response to the heart. Whether they stay or where they move to during the harvest and immediately following. With everything said the massive timber harvesting machinery moves in for the first phase of the logs. A 40 acre stand of loblolly pine is cut. But several lines of trees are left behind for the square Oaks. Smith and Bush said they conduct an inspection of the habitat areas reserved for the squirrels. I think after some of the debris. But how have the squirrels reacted to find out.

Researcher Greg Turner monitors the logged area and nearby woods to see if he can pick up the telltale beeps of any of the radio collar experience. I'm trying to locate a certain group of squirrels in the works. I have collars on and what I do is try and find each of these squirrels and weather out in the woods every day and try and mark their movements. It's true that the Pats are working their way from to the logging that's taking place early results indicate some schools are still using the site at least for some of their needs. But with two more areas still to be logged the following summer. It's too soon to predict if the experimental approach has worked. It all goes so they will offer at this point is the outcome the researchers hope will occur. We're hoping they'll stay here the whole time. We might lose a couple of squirrels to the surrounding stands but we're hoping that we keep enough of them here to have a viable population to stay throughout the regeneration of the surrounding timber.

Finding an approach that works for both landowners and squirrels could help prevent the kinds of bitter lawsuits that might otherwise occur if the government tightens regulations on timber sales in order to save the endangered squirrel. And that is a possibility. That it could turn into a fight if this experiment works and we come up with after that is both good for the timber harvest and good for the world and will avoid that whole grain right. Drop in to our website and send us your

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