Outdoors Maryland; 1601

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 going to any lengths to find a Western Maryland rarity. Crisscrossing the state to protect and to serve. And. Casting a light in search of the humble. Outdoors Maryland is produced in cooperation with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. DENR. Inspired by Nature. The boy.

The boy. Yeah. Yeah. It's early spring in the mountain forests of Garrett County. And the first flash of green colors the barren branches. A new cycle of life is begin laying. Saying. The fierce eyes of a goshawk pierced the forest canopy following a man's movements through the trees. Two babies are in the nest. And the mother Goshawk is wary of this intruder. Suddenly the forest rings with the fierce cry. But despite the birds alarmed there is nothing for it to fear. The intruder is a wildlife ecologist with Maryland's Department of Natural Resources.

His name is Dave Brinker and he's just found the second new nesting pair of goshawks in the entire state. Goshawks are listed as an endangered species in Maryland. We went through a period probably about the 1940s or 30s and still one thousand a year we suspect there were no nesting goshawks in Maryland at all. We removed all their. Nesting habitat so they disappeared. But with the gradual return and growth of the forests in the western part of the state goshawks may be coming back to Maryland. That's what Dave Brinker hopes. I like walking in the woods. This is a great way to spend your spring you know when everything's coming up new and green. Like working on rare species and here this is probably at least in my book the rarest breeding bird marrow. Brinker is now conducting research on the migratory patterns of these elusive forest whiling hawks.

His job is to find out as much as he can about their movements throughout the year. They're individuals just like people. I think what I like is the boldness of this bird and the rareness that goes along with. Weeks later Dave returns to the same nest site this time with his assistant Steve Huey. To hear that off in the distance to know a little while ago I thought I might have heard one of tacking together. Dave and Steve will try to capture this new nesting pair and put satellite transmitters on their backs as well as band the adult birds and their babies for identification purposes. You know. It's dangerous work. Known to be aggressive. What makes a guy soft is the fact that it chases you through the woods. It's the only hot going to come down through the canopy and literally trying to hit you in the head.

Got the poles. Apart one set and that's in there. It's early in the morning when Dave and Steve decide that they will try to capture the birds. Can you push up the first line so we make sure we go to untangle the tomb and set up an elaborate system of nets around the nest. The lure is a great horned owl of fierce enemy of the goshawk. We put a mist net in between the goshawks nest and the great horned owl. The goshawk dives at it trying to drive the Great Horned Owl away from its nestlings and can't see the mist and we snag I'm in the midst now. You know how this works you've done it before you tracked mama. We've never had a goshawk hit. And all we've never had either the our the goshawk get injured in this to avoid alarming the goshawks Dave leaves the area. Steve takes cover behind a makeshift high. The long wait begins. But in less than an hour the mother Goshawk goes for the day and is immediately snared in the

net. Steve quickly jumps into action. It's. Sort of like a game of bluff. All it wants to do is dive it and you know put a little bit of fear of Mother Goshawk into the owl and in the process it runs in the mist Not that it can't see. One female northern Goshawk wrapped and ready for pick up. Back at base camp Dave is encouraged. If you want. But the hours pass by and the male Goshawk proves elusive. Steve what's he up to now. Bill. Larry. Thanks. They're watching. Dave busies himself putting together this small satellite transmitters and fitting a harness on to the female. What we've been doing is putting satellite transmitters on adult Paris as we find them here in

Maryland. What goshawks do in the winter time is basically a no. Telling. 260. Or the conservation and managing goshawks or maintaining them depends upon us knowing. What parts and what characteristics of the landscape they prefer. We'll see where this pair goes and I suspect that you know they are not going to take off and go long distances. Late that afternoon the male Goshawk makes his move. The action got him. And it was just a matter of luck because side managed to spring up there. Dave and Steve now work in earnest. With only a few hours left of daylight. Steve climbs 50 feet into the pine

tree to get to the nest and get around the branches. To nervous baby goshawks still unable to fly. Stare anxiously at this tree climbing intruders. Steve removes the birds and sends them down to Dave. OK one coming down. What. Dave quickly bans the baby birds. These young if they make it to breeding population will be somewhere. Western Maryland northern West Virginia in the high country maybe southwest you know they will go to Wisconsin to breed. The birds are returned to their nest in less than half an hour. The good thing of goshawks returning to Maryland is it demonstrates that our forests are becoming healthier more diverse systems.

With the babies now safely in their nest. Dave releases the mother Goshawk with the satellite transmitter on her back. She can now return to her young one too. Mission accomplished. The mail will be released the next day. Dave Brinker a man who has made the woods his home for most of his life will now track the movements of these rare birds through the forests of Maryland to learn more about their secrets. I'm a guy with a passion for a big heart that likes chases through the woods. Look at that. She's a good mother. Knows her duties wants to do. But there's a Zen to it it's just based on the fact that next spring you get to go back. Find your parents again and. See who made it through the winter and who is replaced and how they don't. She. She.

The area I cover. It is very difficult to define. DAY TO DAY. My general responsibility is the magazine river. I would say from the Bay Bridge all the way up to Marley and Furnace Creek which are at the northern end of and around the county. On that resource police are responsible for conservation betting law and criminal law. Is like two divisions of the Marine Division in the vision. I work at the Gramberg office which is essential region. I'm an Illinois officer Hmong McCamey and blogger said. You're. Going to regret. I've been on the force as a Natural Resources police officer for four years. I'm stationed in Annapolis I'm acting corporal of an apple stationed at this time. I'm a retired Army colonel. I live on a boat in Annapolis Harbor. I'm a U.S. Coast Guard licensed captain. And I thoroughly enjoy what I'm going. Through.

When they're skimming the surface of the Chesapeake Bay or driving the wooded backroads of the counties the Maryland natural resources police are on patrol. Since their humble beginnings as the state oyster police force in 1868. They continue to enforce the best interests of citizens and protect the delicate ecosystems throughout Maryland. Officer Beth McVeigh remembers when she was first attracted to the job. I worked in the state parks. Since I was about 15 years old. And. I noticed that the natural resource officers coming back and forth in the state park and. Thought it was a fantastic job and really was. Very happy when I got selected. I think the majority of the watermen understand that we're out here to do a job. Hi Mr. Grant. And I think they understand and respect that. Are you often asked. Are you finished for the. Day. OK. Just like we always do we're checking size limits of crowds and we're.

Checking that. The method of harvesting is legal. Anything. That. Will. Take you to those places. It is important to kids to know them. And understand their viewpoints and you can make a good decision. About when to write a warning and when to write a citation and when to educate them. If their perception is that the state thinks they can fully manage that ecosystem just buy more laws and rules and regulations then they have a frustration. So I think it's important to talk to them understand what their viewpoints are. I guess all Marylanders know that number one crabs are the big guys in number two primes are the ones that are just legal. So he's given me his number two crabs. And I guess they are proud of the really big right now in the suburbs. Because we mostly have number one perhaps on the right. It does feel like. Enforcing conservation laws makes a real difference in the

seafood that's available to catch. The principal danger in boating is three dimensional environment. Things are happening all around you. Officer Rick Kauffman is the acting corporal of the Annapolis station. If another individual makes a mistake you have to be prepared to take evasive action. The most common cause of accidents on the water is failure to pay attention to what's happening all around your bum. That's why alcohol is so dangerous on the water and that's why alcohol Forsman is such a top priority with natural resources police. When we pull alongside an individual whose recreational fishing or crabbing will of course check the catch will check the legality the size the season. We will also check safety equipment. Good morning. Or was. I bring people like they

catch fish when I come up with the. Rough stuff right now and how. Much. Do you really. Want for each and that's it. Toadfish. That's about it. The guys I was just checking they were going to put a little tiny fuel. Was not a lot of. Other little people I mean you're not the only ones you're really you're right. Because the. Better the better you know much of what I think if you're cooler is what has made our job easier it is better education in Maryland pioneered 1087 actually requiring people born on or after July 1st 1972 to have a boater safety certificate with them either from passing a test or actually taking a course. You know you don't do that you have got a live well. Yeah. I normally will divide my day in to boating safety boating and Forsman. Negligent operations legs hanging over the power of the boat which is very dangerous. Speed the excess of weight registration and numbering violations. Then we look at conservation both

recreational fishing and crabbing as well as commercial 441 project rolling. Jumping off the. Natural resources police officers our police officers we enforce all the laws in the state of Maryland not just voting in conservation. Well the true owners of that it's not a problem. The diehards love this guy. Whether the fly by night kind of guys that I want to set up said rainy weather cold weather. In the officer might pull wiki finds himself especially busy during the winter hunting seasons. During the hunting seasons we get a lot of complaints from citizens with reference to hunting close of their property. At night we have poaching spot lighters Jack lighters. All different types of complaints you name it we get it.

Right now we're in a farm Season Two weeks from season to season we're pretty well in the beginning but when the weather started snowing or stuff it kind of dropped off a little bit but this is a day the last day. Hopefully everybody will be out. They don't today in Iraq you know. Where's a coupon on or anywhere until it's gone. Where is everybody. They didn't do it today. You know honey is like a dying art in the hundreds being pushed out more and more due to the population building homes everywhere. And it's important the hunter knows his area well because of there's a lot of people gets on you know people would see Hunter Walk in the field and realize that he has every right to be there is always he's doing everything right. Safety zones and stuff he can do that. It's a sport it's a legal sport is nothing wrong with it.

The taking of your hunting license sure. Hunters have to go to a deer checking station to check in your deer there are several of them located all over the counties. They basically they go in to check on me and in the first day of the season usually have biologists they're just age on seal how things are going how they and their population is doing. Not resource police officers basically a jack of all trades we pretty much do everything. With conservation from Ealing trespassing complaints to hunting accidents or one day could be removing 18 towell from the Chesapeake Bay and it's a very rewarding job. The bomber. And. Much milder here will catch a fish. Cat. Watched. Feisty. You know where he is. Going to. Take our rest ill say. Now. That.

I lost him but. In parts of Maryland it's pronounced as one word yellow perch. On a perch of the first fish of the season. People in that cabin fever in one of the fish they get out late February and March and even in weather like this and go fishing that's it. Keep it on tight. This is what a lot of people teach your kids to official says are their first fish. That were purchased. This time of year. Some instinct drives yellow perch to migrate up icy streams to spawn. Another instinct drives fishermen out in all weather to catch them. Anybody can catch a perch and you come out get a bobber and some hooks and some minnows at the local tackle store. And you come out. And just have some fun. First catch of the season. First catch of a lifetime. The unassuming yellow purges hook deep into Maryland's cultural and national heritage.

Or rather the stuff he did he was. All right. Yeah. Hello they. Got a little. And then guess what. It's a yellow for each. Your first little yellow prairie. One day. I will speak. To a small we have to let him grow up like you. Fishing in itself is a tradition I think it's something that was taught from my grandfather to my father to me. Fishing The sport itself this is something that I think every. American should should have a chance to at least try. Because everybody can do it. The resources here this river is for everybody. Why it's Harlee Spears job to make sure yellow purge day in Maryland waters as head of the biological monitoring and analysis program in the DNR is Fisheries Service. Charlie and his team donned

their survival suits as soon as word comes in. Yellow perch you're running. Through the late 70s and 80s the purge populations decline and we're still not sure why. It's probably a combination of overfishing and poor water quality. 2:36 we actually close the fishery of many rivers in 1988. We have opened reopened several of them since. As populations have improved this is one of the reasons that we are out here sampling is to make sure that population levels are adequate that we don't over fish that we maintain enough adult fish in the population to keep reproduction up. Thanks. The next minute. Thanks for all their homegrown popularity much about yellow perch remains a mystery. Each localized population in the Chesapeake unruly brood of big rivers behaves differently.

The chop take fish stay in the chop tank the Chester river fish stay in the Chester and this is one of the reasons why yellow perch are somewhat difficult to to measure to account for their population size. You get a sample and individually and thats why were so many places around the bay so busy during this this season. We have five nets only chop tank and will haul the nets in and course they've got not just the perch but catfish a white perch and golden Shiner and pumpkin seed. A number of species and we measure the catch in numbers of fish per day and we set the nets in the same way every year so we have a good idea if the number of fish caught per day increases over a period of time we can see that populations are improving. We also look at the size of fish. What growth rates are

really beautiful. Today's catch of yellow perch have not yet spawned the females are brimming with eggs. Males and females will be taken to a hatchery for tanks spawning. The ambitious goal to raise a million young yellow perch to restock failing rivers. Well it's been a long winter and it's taken a long time to warm up so it's really delayed three operations. Normally we we would be done spawning fish for the year. Steve Minkin. Is director of hatcheries and fin fish restoration for the Department of Natural Resources. At the hatchery. We implant the yellow perch with a time release hormone that induces in the spawn over a week's time period. They release their eggs and their hatchery and we incubate them and hatch them out and then we mark the all the fish before we stock them back into the other river systems.

The new method of chemically marking the fish could make a splash among fisheries across the country. Eggs and newly hatched fish are bathed in an antibiotic which is absorbed in a pattern by the ear bones. During later surveys sampling the ear bones helps establish what percentage of the catch was stopped. We can see how effective stocking fish of a different life stages and this could really improve our technique. For releasing fish when they're more likely to survive only Iraqis right. The other volunteers are helping to restock yellow perch can Hastings with the coastal conservation Association leads a team in Southern Maryland that collects egg strands for the hatchery and then helps release the fry into river systems like the white kamikaze. As a kid I lived up the back river at their Baltimore and we caught yellow perch from time to time and developed a new respect for them and I'm concerned about the

resources and they're a fascinating fish and follow so now I'm hooked. You're Bruce Tugwell past president of CC a join the team looking for Anson then breaks out his fishing rod. He's with his son Scott in the yellow parts restoration project. It's grassroots you know we all get involved. My father wasn't a good fisherman he loved to fish and he taught me to fish as a very young boy and I can remember when I wasn't fishing. And I've tried to instill that you know that feeling in my son so we spend a lot of time out. Fishing together are like gold fish are dead because we talk to each other again. OK. Fish who needs to be your own mind. But I don't catch her. I think of the great care Ed. They can use your kids at a convention you know. The bay is in the blood of Jeff Brady and his son Sawyer.

The boy's grandfather is Captain Wade Murphy. Of the Skipjack. Rebecca t Rory I grew up on this train are down here for some thoughtless five years I went out so I think it's great I hope it likes it forever. Thank you. When I got up this morning. The weather wasn't so great but he was so excited to go and I had to make it a point to go for Gig Young. Fishing is a way to nurture love of nature in his sunrise. There's nothing like. Chesapeake Bay or its tidal waters. If I'm lucky. I will die. Being out in nature somewhere. I just can't imagine being anyplace else. Drop into our website at w w w dot MP t dot o r g

to send us your comments and suggestions. 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.