Outdoors Maryland; 2004

Outdoors Maryland is made by NPT to serve all of our diverse communities and is made possible by the generous support of our members. Thank you. Coming up the loyalty in durance and wavy brown coat of Maryland state dog. One man's crusade against the destructive rhythm of toy human tide takes empty home life and the mystery of bees next. Outdoors Maryland is produced in cooperation with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Dno are inspired by nature guided by science. For over two hundred years the Chesapeake Bay Retriever has been the definitive hunting

dog of the bay region. They've maintained a reputation for loyalty and Durrance and tenacity that earned them the honor of being named Maryland's official state dog. In the duck blind. The show wearing four in the backyard. Chesapeake still have a special place in the heart of many Marylanders. It's a bond that begins with love at first sight. Here's the DVDs. I have three of them and here are mine for you that I think will be great for Laura Wade owner of chess shores kennels has bred champion Chesapeake Bay Retrievers for 12 years. She prides herself on finding the right fit between puppy and owner. How about the Chesapeake Bay. It is a versatile breed and Rachel looking for a beauty ends and conformation. What I'm looking for here is how the puppy is going to interact with her. She's going to interact with the

puppy. Is it a good match for Rachel. Obedience side of CS should be mandatory no matter if you're planning to compete or not. They are definitely not a brief for every owner. Hey they're a great breed but they are strong willed. Their breed needs direction they need a job. Be prepared. You're going to have your work cut out for you in the beginning. There were no U.S. has trained his two year old Chesapeake Bay Retriever Maggie to help preserve the bay that is her breeds namesake. Their goal to help eradicate the nutria and invasive rodent that is destroying vital marsh grasses. I've been working with USDA Wildlife Services for about five and a half years. I've been training with Maggie since she's been six months old. Dogs are a very effective tool on the nutria project areas that we've previously trapped eradicated. Many if not all of the nutria that were there

we may have left the colony behind which is very hard to find. After you've been in there and trapping. So we go in a couple months later take the dogs in and see what they can find. She can cover acres and acres more than I can. She can smell nutria at a hundred plus yards and she can find the needle in the haystack. I love brainer to work. I love being able to work with my own dogs. But it's a joy that most people that are dog owners don't you know don't get to have. Chesapeake Bay Retrievers are extremely and sometimes to a fault loyal to their owners. Maggie strictly wants to work with me and for me they're great people. There's special bonding and extensive training helps the move void the dangers of their job. Nutria they'll be extremely aggressive when cornered some dogs. They get a little aggressive with them and get too close. Luckily so far she's kind of stays away from

them. Nutria which are an invasive species they're destroying the Mars they dig up the roots of the of the marsh plants and the root mass is what holds the marshes together and then the ebb and flow of the tide washes them march away and just essentially turns it into just water. That's bad for the native species in Seoul so bad for the entire Chesapeake Bay. Here's what the new trees teeth look like. This is minus the lower jaw also there's another set just as big on the bottom. And they could put a really really good bite on a dog if this but if this collar wasn't there. She likes to stay really close. And even if she gets on a nutria normally she'll go so far and then you know she'll turn around and she wants to make sure that I'm calm and she comes up upon one she wants me to be there. Trainer Joe Quinn and his master hunter braved that work for many years to build the trust and communication skills that have earned the numerous awards.

The bond between the Chesapeake and its owner with time and patience can grow into an almost magical partnership. Very very selfish. He's a good dog because he's he's a rolling worker and. He and I just yelled from the beginning. He thought he could do things his way. You have to show him what you want you have to gain his confidence. And Braves confidence is on display when he gets to work in his native habitat in the water. So that's one thing everybody likes about bravery is very stylish. When he jumps in he gives it all his all. You'll see some dogs even charities they're very tempted to go into the water and then they start swimming off. We're brave he just goes. Full force. Get everything out of my way doesn't run out of my bird. It's normally you would put a bumper into the grass area or someplace where you can't see orange is a color that supposedly dogs cannot see.

Then they have to listen to me and I have to pay attention. They have to have the confidence in you and you have to have the confidence in them to be able to do the job. If you're not a team you're not going to excel in either hunting or hunt cast and field trials. Braves are a good team partner he's going to work you go into every three innings and he's going to do what you ask. Chesapeake natural retrieving instincts are just one of the many traits that make them ideal for working in the waters of the ballet. Although dead grass coat such as Braves are becoming more common the iconic look of the Chesapeake has its wavy brown coat when they come out and they shake off the under coat should be drawn and that's also very important especially in a cold winter months when they're out there retrieving and the icy cold conditions. Having worked in the icy waters of the day for 200 years the Chesapeake Bay Retriever returns instinctively and eagerly to the water.

They are born retrievers and they love to retreat. They need to know that they serve a purpose here and as a result they they get rewarded by through praise and through the retrieves alone. What makes Maggie unique is she's actually a very laid back which I like. You know she sleeps in a bed with me. And she's just a callous dog. When she's working and she's working but he's not he's very easy going and very easy to get along. An early summer morning on the Chesapeake. The day springs to life a deal island with the sounds of men heading out to work on the water. Their ultimate destination.

Unknown. Also getting an early start is Steve one who steers a course south and west. Toward the Holland strait. But what's not fishing like most days he's motoring across Tangier Sound heading for his usual destination. Holland Island. An isolated wedge of mud and sand. Once home to rugged Chesapeake want him. To shift. It's now the Chesapeake is swallowing Holland Island washing away. Its slowly disappearing like hundreds of other Chesapeake islands have melting into the bay with each ripple of time and time. White visited is a boy return years later and finally bought most of this drowning island in the 1990s. Right now his goal is to save the remaining structure. The old grand house nearly swept

off the island by Hurricane Isabel in 2003. I've had several people say you can't fight nature. Why are you trying to do this when you know the island is going to be taken away. Well I think I can accept that. He hopes preserving and restoring the historic ouse will attract the public support he needs to fund restoration of the entire island to its original size. A daunting task even for an optimist like wife. At this point is the most critical of all because it has the last remaining house of 60 on this island and Hurricane Isabel damaged it terribly went right through it. So we're trying at the same time we're trying to fix up the house or trying to protect the house by building up the shoreline on the bay side. All because nature has a plan for Holland Island. When settled in the late 60s hundreds of the wooded island was two hundred twenty five acres. One

part known as the western ridge rose more than 40 feet above sea level. But storms and waves were too much for the island. Residents saw a large scale effects from a Rhodesian in the late 1800s. But they were powerless to stop it. Today the island is broken into three sections much of where thriving fishing village stood is gone. White believes the government could restore the island using dredged materials from the bay. A new environmental restoration technologies much like Poplar island's reconstruction north of here. The time is running out. This island is really eroding away very quickly. And Isabel which came through three years ago. Seemed to accelerate everything. In this area we lost. 75 feet of shore in two years including very important points of land it was jotting out. That helped

protect the cause and help a crew saw oil and the island is is losing. One or two acres a year. Right. And in some cases more than that. You have to fight it. You can fight it you can fight it technically and strategically and you can win but it takes a will it takes money it takes people with a positive attitude. Not not the naysayers White who's a retired Methodist minister is motivated by the strong emotional bond he's formed with the island and its history and its long past residence. He also worries about habitat and about the birds that pack the island in summer. This island is probably the most densely populated with wildlife of any island in the bay. There were probably 2000 pelicans there right now nesting all over the place as a heron rookery herring gull rubbery black bag all rubbery. Upturn rookery. There is two

eagles nest on the island for five offspring now and they were chased from Spring Island. The pelicans were by Hurricane Isabel scouring the land they came over here. Now this disappears. Where are they going to go. Worth Where's the wildlife going to find habitat suitable away from subdivisions and they need national material which they find here. And when islands like this go they no longer have it. They're stressed the death right now. What the Birds are witnessing is the island's long decline coming to a slow close the land still sinking sea level still rising and the waves steady scouring of the island sand in much. All part of the natural history lesson that wasn't lost on the settlers and on the island they had a good life they had socials out at the red man's holiday and the Ladies Aid work to help the people in the community and there were several roads are all leading to the charge in the school. The church in the school was like a hobo but we deal

with roads coming in all directions to it which is the center of their life. It seems like around 900. That erosion really really stepped it up. My theory is the west ridge. It was up it was up to 40 feet high in some places. And then the waves and ice was getting right at that sand bank and it really took off. I can imagine the people got pretty discouraged at that time and one or two of them began to think the unthinkable. We're going to have to move. By the early 1900s. Nearly all Holland islanders had moved everything they owned East to the mainland. Even their houses only a few die hards risks today. For whites the most important Islanders are the ones who are left behind.

And here is where Effie Lee and her mother a buried. And I think the way we are as a people. It's the respect we have for our departed that we tried to build some sort of small monument or place some kind of tribute to them in memory of f a l Wilson daughter of John W a nanny a Wilson born January 16th 1880. I don't like to say one of the great Watch out it's it's just it's like a part of me is being destroyed. Her epitaph reads. Forget me not is all I ask. I could not ask for more than to be cherished by my friends so loving and so dear dearest Afy thou has left us and our loss we deeply feel. But his god that has to be wrapped us he can all our sorrows heal.

Steve White will continue to fight for Holland. But he'd gladly give it all away. Yes and they. As I think that's more important than me owning it. All he wants in return is a promise that the island's past and future. Are kept safe from the relentless waves of Chesapeake Bay. From antiquity civilizations have depended upon B as a primal source of sweetness and light. One third of our modern day diet depends upon pollinators like the honey bee. Many trees and plants in the natural world also reproduce only through insect pollination.

Without bees. Life on Earth as we know it would not exist. Deeply unsettling came the news in the winter of 2006 2007 honey bees in nearly 30 states had abruptly abandoned their hives simply vanished. Scientists have found a name for the phenomenon colony collapse disorder or CCD but to date they're still working against the clock to discover the cause and cure. November 2006 David Hackett Berg of Pennsylvania was the first to report bees disappearing from previously healthy hives. By mid-November. Yes completely gone one disappeared. Back in burgers one of about thirteen hundred commercial beekeepers in the United States.

Together there are 2.5 million hives provide pollination services that add 15 billion dollars to crop values every year. Money is secondary. In 2006 2007 Akon Berg lost two thirds of his hives to CCD. Across the nation. Nearly one third of all commercial beehives died off last where we went from three thousand down to less than 900. Scientists are investigating whether bees have weakened immune systems which make them more vulnerable to viruses and other diseases. Researchers are looking into whether systematic pesticides may have weakened be Zameen systems and contaminated hives and groundwater. Achan verb in his own research too. We have basically changed chemicals insecticides. Here in United States in the last three or four years. And basically what they do to their targeted insects that they're targeting to kill.

It breakdowns or immune system causes memory loss causes the nervous system become disordered and causes the insect to quit feeding. What's happening is I think we're bringing this stuff back to the hive they're storing it. They're feeding it to the young. And when I was young we. Get to the point where they come feel be. Their memory gets distorted they forget where they went and they forget to come home. I don't know how to how can burgers experimenting with a variety of techniques to try to build up his bees again. He's worked with the Department of Agriculture to radiate his dead hive boxes to kill pathogens. I can Berger is also experimenting with the recipe of protein in sugar syrup so he uses to feed his bees after the honey has been harvested. We go to Apple for 10 days we go to move very for three weeks. Let me move myself the pumpkins or whatever to be the only get one thing in our diet. You need to have a balanced diet.

Second bird also rested his bees before trucking them to Florida and California growers before the winter of 2007 2008. In spite of these measures Hakon bird has lost 40 to 45 percent of his hives by mid January 2008. He started with fewer BS because of last year's CCD. Beekeepers and scientists across the country fear that two to three years of these kinds of losses can push commercial beekeepers and viable hives beyond the tipping point. Every beekeeper I know really. Want to be caver lay there nobody taking the crumbs pollinated. But after Wow there's only so much you can do. The United States Department of Agriculture is working on Colony Collapse Disorder with scientists at Penn State and other institutions. Research on honey bees was well underway because over the last decade beekeepers were already suffering losses of 20 to 35 percent of their hives every year. Dr. Jeff

Pettis is director of the USDA bee lab in Beltsville Maryland. Colic Labs is sort of just a new problem on top of the problems we already have. The world might from Asia is the most damaging parasite affecting honeybees the equivalent of being attacked by a blood sucking ticks the size of a grapefruit. Some people call them part of. The world might also carry pathogens and cause damage to the bees immune systems crippling their ability to fight disease. Now enter CCD sparking worldwide concern and speculation. Scientists discount One popular theory that cell phone transmissions have caused BS to abandon their hives. They've also dismissed speculation about disruptive magnetic fields or solar flares. We keep going back to a pathogen. Dr Patteson colleagues have recently identified a new virus associated with abandoned hives. But stresses that CCD is likely caused by a

lethal interaction of triggers including pesticides parasites viruses other diseases. And nutritional stress ranging from drought to inadequate feeding. And perhaps in these college offers we're looking at multiple factors coming together. To date Maryland beekeepers have escaped CCD. Jerry Fisher state apparatus with the Maryland Department of Agriculture attributes this to the fact that only three out of 13 hundred Maryland beekeepers are large commercial operations. The rest are small scale hobbyists. I have not seen one calling as they are my own. That's a creditor damage from saves a day. Dr. Barry Thompson a medical geneticist is one of Maryland small scale beekeepers. Thompson's hives like others in Maryland have so far escaped CCD. But he does not rest easy.

Whether that will be good luck on our part or whether we will see a colony collapse disorder. Whatever the cause from surrounding states in the years ahead we just don't know. Research across the country continues on finding the cause and cure of CCD. Meanwhile incoming data for the winter of 2007 2008 suggests B losses equal to a greater than last winter's concern melts that honeybees are in a race against the clock for survival on increasingly fragile wings a full. Drop into our website at W W W dog MP t dog. O r g

to send us your comments and suggestions. Learn more about Maryland's diverse natural beauty on our website and in our magazine. Dno are inspired by nature guided by science outdoors Maryland is made by NPT to serve all of our diverse communities and is made possible by the generous support of our members. Thank you.