Outdoors Maryland; 608

World where. You. Are. It's a trip for the lucky few. Each year. A difficult secret trail through the swamp. Marked only by yellow ties on trees. But this is not any tree and this is not any swamp. Andy Brown is chief naturalist for the Battle Creek cypress swamp. Well thank you all for coming today. As you're aware we have the largest bald cypress tree in the state of Maryland here about a creek cypress swamp. We're lucky enough this morning to take a hike through the swamp up to that tree and get an idea of really how big it is it's estimated to be between five and six hundred years old. How and why the ancient battle creek bald Cypress Swamp exists and persists in Calvert County is a mystery of nature.

And the wonder of it is what drives the big three hikers on Battle Creek Cypress Swamp is one of the northernmost naturally occurring stans of Cyprus in the United States. Cyprus are typically distributed in the southeastern United States. This particular stand is the only cypress swamp on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay. As you can see we're kind of in an area here where there's not too many Cypress it's mostly hardwood trees. The Battle Creek is a little bit further over to our left here walking parallel to the creek and that's where most of the cypress are occurring in this in the northern section here the Battle Creek cypress swamp. It's an island population about 100 acres in size. This preserve is an important green way to migratory birds. There's also several types of rare plants that can be found here like the pink turtle. There's a good shot of one just started to show up and we can see our first cypress tree where you we can tell we're

getting kind of close. You can see it through the hole in the canopy there. This is a real tall one there and it's nice the way see the way the wind's blowing it back and forth. Most of the other trees are pretty pretty still but the cypress are. Swaying a little bit there. Yeah. That's a pretty tree that's a nice specimen. It's a good view. This is a real good view. The first Cypress now the real swamp. Cyprus are very unusual trees. They reach large heights they can grow up to 150 feet tall event termed the tallest tree east of the Mississippi River. There's estimates that they could live upwards in their thousands of years a couple of individual trees that have been identified in North Carolina as being close to 2000 years old. They are very old ancient type trees here in the swamp we have done some core samples of the of the bed of the Battle Creek that the the mud and pollen grains there at 10 foot

depths have been dated to be about twenty five hundred years. So we know Cypress have been here in this location for that long. Some estimates say that the cypress it has been growing in this location for up to 6000 years. Battle Creek is the ancient heart and vital source of this one. Yet its course is fluid and ever changing. In Restless response to distant channels of moving water. A newly discovered up Wellings from a mysterious submarine in currents running deep underground. As you walk through the Battle Creek Cypress Swamp you'll notice especially in the summer months there may not be standing water in the swamp. The water levels fluctuate greatly with the rainfall in some at some times year with the heavy rain middle. It will get up to be about two to three feet deep and that it was sized fairly quickly. Ironically it's the eccentric ever changing nature of Battle Creek that may account for the persistence of the swamp so far north. For so long.

Battle Creek winds both north and south creating atop a logical hotspot that scientists believe may shield the swamp from winter's cold prevailing winds. This is a good spot because we're in actually in standing water to talk about some of the features of the cypress tree. You can notice this tree behind me here has a large flaring base and that's typical of many trees that grow in one situation. Also you can see lots of these in here. The knees are very interesting structures they are formed by the root system. And scientists have been studying them for quite some time they really aren't sure what the function is of one of the most common questions that is going to grow into a new tree. And in actuality it does not. They have found that they grow to a height correspondent to the depth of water that they're growing in. So the deeper the water the taller the knee. You see a yellow ribbon somewhere. Bald Cypress are native only to North America and have an unusual classification.

Only a few trees in the world display the same quirky characteristics of both evergreen and hardwood trees. Cypress are very unusual trees. They are economy which means they have needles in Combs unlike most conifers though they are deciduous in the shed all the hay in the in the fall and regrow them in the spring. That's where the term bald Cypress comes from the active shed in the middle. The unique character of the bald Cypress makes for a spectacular autumn needled. Fragrance and hue are equally intense. This is a rare sight on earth driving the imagination EON's back to an age when the woolly mammoths roam. And cypress swamps range throughout Maryland on both shores of the just a big bay. Every bald cypress swamp has its own unique character. And a long personal history that may stretch back thousands of years. The Battle Creek swamp is unusually dense in numbers of cypress trees 93 percent

Cypress compared with only 11 percent Cypress and the Great Dismal Swamp. Extensive logging for the valuable scarce cypress wood has played a major role in the loss and thinning of bald Cypress forests throughout America. There is. Really bawl. About hard 30 feet. As you can see the tree a short distance up the trunk branches it has a fork in it and that's probably why this this tree is still here today. We know the swamp was cut or logged at least twice in the history and this one was not a valuable lumber tree so that's why that was left behind.

Sixteen and a half feet circumference. That's an impressive tree. When you get up to it you get a feel for really how big it is. The magic of the swamp captivates everyone who enters. Don't. You. Oh. You're right. There is a. Game in there. Right. Playing. In the popular imagination the word swamp evokes all things dark

slimy and dangerous. In fact here flourish is one of the great treasures of nature. A rich and fertile ancient forest full of stately life. And timeless mystery. This story begins 15 million years ago during the Miocene period. This 30 miles of shoreline cliffs in Calvert County were on farmland and where they stand was well off to see marine mammals and other life that died in the shallow waters fell to the bottom and were covered by sediment. Millions of years later the entire region was lifted above sea level and the ocean retreated. The suspect on a river was formed on the walls of its deep river valley revealed the ancient ocean bottom sediments and the fossils contained in. Today wave action rain and winter's freeze thaw caused chunks of the

side of that old river bed. The cliffs of culvert to fall off. Each year the cliffs slowly march westward exposing more skeletal remains and mixing bones and sharks into the narrow beach at the water's edge. So the most popular way life awful. It's a walk along the beach and basically beach. That erosion favorable to paleontologists like David Bowie is a constant threat to homeowners like the Bergen family who live on the cliffs. That's really where we are right now is going to be and to be down in the bay whether it's a million years from now or 10 years from now I don't know. We have it figured out by the time the clip reaches the house will be gone and my daughter of. Paradise is slipping away for the Virgin family. Their magical house will one day be

pulled down by the eroding cliff on which it stands. Why do they stay on. That's our home is not a house that we live in it's really our home. You got someplace else. Thank you. Which one it is was a little like that one. Lured by the breathtaking view people like the Bergen's have lived in homes on the shoreline cliffs of Calvert County for many decades. But an erosion rate of about two feet per year on average takes its toll. I've seen like friends and backyards just they're not there anymore like places I used to play are like now underwater. It's weird. They've had to put up fences. So I think kids from going to close to the edge of. The view may be grand but residents are concerned about the ever eroding cliff face. Some have put in place structures to slow the continually receding cliffs.

Others like the Bergen's encourage a thick cover of vegetation to grow on the cliff face. That's who we're interested in doing with with the grasses and the plants that we have around the perimeter. Beyond those plants put down a ring pattern that holds the bank together. This was very interesting. We don't want to be too high because if they're too hide in their proper order. And when they topple over they'll think a great big chunk of the cliff with them we're not interested in doing that at all. Efforts by humans to stabilize the cliff are not just a headache for paleontologists. A species of Tiger Beetle the Puritan listed by both state and federal government is also affected. The adults run around the beaches during the day they came to warn other insects and small creatures anything they can grab ahold of they want to go like that by

the adult Puritan Tiger beetles may find food on beaches but they reproduce in the soft sandy soil near the top of the cliffs above the beaches. They find the right kind of soil that they have adapted to and they. They stick their egg laying structure into the soil and place an egg there. When the eggs hatch the larvae burrow deeper into the cliff turning their egg chambers into a long tunnel returning to the entrance of the tunnel. The larvae wait to grab unsuspecting insects in their strong jaws. You could come in here and destroy this cliff you could plant this in this clip with vegetation completely eliminate the beetle. And if that happened that these large populations. The species would disappear. So the Beatles depend on these cliffs remaining in an undisturbed state. In a way the cliffs depend on the Beatles to. Where they occur. For example you have a natural undisturbed beach or a natural undisturbed cliff. If we don't buy the Beatles there we know there's some kind of disturbance

either some human activity or some chemical pollution or something disruptive that has only made those habitat. These beetles are just at the mercy of many kinds of factors and so we feel like we have to protect at least five or ten populations each having several thousand insects to ensure that that that that insect is going to survive. OK Puritan Tiger beetles need undisturbed cliff faces. It wouldn't be possible to find marine fossils from the Miocene period elsewhere. The advantage to the Calvert Cliffs it's a long exposure it stands for about 30 miles. They are heavy. You know. True from Point. Out. So it's a nice long. Exposure. It's really nice that you can trace some of the layers I'm on here.

Marine fossils like the one boathouse Kez looking for can be found in most of Southern Maryland but they appear only in scattered outcroppings that are few and far between. These cliff faces reveal a rich picture of our world 15 million years ago. Today both on earth's a tiny bone he believed to be that of an ancient bird a rare find in what was once ocean. He carefully wraps it to protect it so it can be cleaned and examined in the laboratory. The advantage and the white have is that we can walk on them with smaller we can use magnifying glasses or microscopes they're getting in to get a better look at it and you can do things much more slowly. So it really is a lot of work. But there is a real thrill that sometimes you're looking at something no one's ever everything. Again. We don't even see Britney Spears again with the. Coast of

Maryland. It's not a matter of electing him and throwing him in Brewer and forgetting them various questions are are asked about the fossil. Some of it is in fact what what we call paleo ecology. Try to get a picture of what Marilyn looked like 15 million years ago in the total picture of what animals were living here how they interacted with each other. Paleontologists would like to preserve as much of the cliffs as they can in a natural state. That would help them perform their detective work. It might bring to light startling new discoveries. It continually fills gaps in our knowledge. Entomologists are concerned about the listed Puritan Tiger beetle and its relative the northeastern beach Tiger beetle. If the cliffs are not allowed to erode the Puritan Tiger beetle will cease to exist in Maryland if the shoreline is disturbed.

The northeastern beach Tiger beetle will vanish with their passing a remnant of our natural heritage would be lost. Homeowners like the Bergen's would like to find a way for everyone to co-exist. It's not a possibility they think. How do the bargains live with this uncertainty. I didn't really think about it and I don't think about it like oh gosh you know let's go measure here we go. Because I guess the same reason that people that live like we're talking earlier with an earthquake area or. Some kind of natural disaster area this is this is our natural This after a very slow and encroaches very tiny amount. Of cliffs in Calvert County I JUST WANT TO example of our encroachment of the natural world. We all must decide what is important. And what is needed to carry us into the future. Before there are no options left. There are life giving secrets in these Maryland mountains that should not be lost to the mists of

time. That's why these representatives of three generations of Garrett County and struck a special stroll through the woods to pass on that knowledge the knowledge of the nurturing secret inside some of the forests most special plants. There's Pappy Jim Ross veteran mountaineer of some 80 plus years Alan Saltzman age 12. She came along to learn some of the secrets from the older Appalachian natives. Pappy and Sherry lane France her family name was one of the oldest in these mountains Pappy's constant companion Feather's leads the way. Now when we're looking for the Southwest what shape of what's a belief are we looking for. All. Pretty horribly boring but they do from afar. All agreements. Know reflect your hand like that's right. What's the matter here pal and. Now salary numbers are going to be looking for that today that has a shake of the hair and really it looks sort of like a Nittany

know sassafras yet but Pappy stops to explain another discovery who rebelled through. The most valuable group go to the Appalachian Mountains. On. The. Moon. For centuries who. Are cured who are also seen. What it does to hope for. The. New senior bar. Sure. Michael do you know who taught us that yellow yellow substance for. Your digestive system less valued as a healing plant but high in popularity for pure aromatic pleasure is the spice bush the spice bush that and I'm pretty sure that you think that. By now Fallon you got to see this. This is wonderful. Watch this. OK. You know make a chili out of the floor. Do this. I'm. Going to start

with this list you know just go. To your room for you here. Here Fallon doing. What Not To Be is a whore and then we deal with it. When her. Son. Does the stroll to harvest food from the wild continues as the long lean mountain man sets his sights on the elusive sassafras rifle it could be a lot of time to question wrong in here. No sassafras but another delightful discovery which adds to anyone's planning of a dinner from the wild program or however the pepper man. Maybe it will make our news. There is room for people living in the city. BROWER pepper America your grandkid every day keeps a lot of the toxic chemicals crushed out of your system.

The stroll through Maryland's wilds continues as does the search for sassafras along the way. Another lesson is learned. There with. Robert Hirst temperamentally a face keep the pumpkins are right. Pumpkins are gnats in the sky and little bloodsuckers it makes it livable for us. When we know right proper man that's a good thing to know when you're out of work you know. We're not out. To eat but they often have another way. Hey folks right here from sassafras telefilm leg cramp and we found. Two big fancy prayer stories. Here. Observe them or sassafras for that run to really look like a fish you have to move from like a mitten and

like a hand. This is an earner per room. Don't leave by any body tell you the Sassafras is bad for you because I had there was a. Member of my mother's family you know had to be a hundred seventeen years old married out of crack and he drank say a prayerful reply. If you're going to have a dinner from Maryland's wild plants you have to visit cherries fellow Garrett County and Hicks. She knows how to harvest and prepare stinging nettles. Well yeah but they have nine times the amount of iron that spinach dies and with spinach being grown in mineral poor soil it's probably more than that. But I think that does it. That looks like candy for a recipe.

I know Hicks is also the one to ask about another source of nutrition from Maryland's natural world the black walnut. And with the hand cracking of the walnuts your hands are stained. Up until around Thanksgiving. It finally wears off. And. People say. Well why don't you wear gloves. But. Then your hands aren't involved really. And besides it's sort of like. Identifying me as a mountain person. One Maryland State botanist Chris fry heard that there was going to be a dinner made of native plants. He decided to take some time and harvest his own contribution to the feast route of cocktails with a collection of can't tell what the ingredients are together for the dinner from the wilds. I think we're about exhausted this one Syrian. See anything else harvesters brought their crops from the wild to Sherry's house for preparation and cooking.

Wow that's right. Oh I did. I'm not sure it's actually right. Fireball latifolia. Regular old cafe au lait anything that comes out of the bar. Is very high in the intervals and the regulars is right we need more than when they're here. Vitamins here. Chris combined the cattle route with chicken garlic onions and tomatoes and transform them into a delicious stir fry. Reactions from the first time Catto tasters were generally favorable. I think even with the chicken it would be a wonderful test. I like to text as kids. It's a gimmick. Just. Can't. Really get like it. It's unusual but I like. The next item on a wild dinner menu is soup which I know prepares from the nettles picked that morning.

The leaves are boiled then poured into a blender. The rich green color of the soup is accented by a dollop of homemade yogurt a boiled potato and ground sumac berries. Top off the dish. So you can cut it better. And what does a 12 year old say about her first taste of stinging nettle so. It is a great fellow and really the rest of the while dinner evening was spent drinking sassafras tea and discussing some of the delicacies that can be had for Marilyn's outdoors. The highlight was serving up a wild turkey. Cathy is that the way how disorganized. This is the turkeys taste good don't matter how thick you slice your health there. Are like a thinly sliced home.

All well meat good good things from the wilds of nature enjoyed by three generations of Marylanders helping to ensure that traditions are kept alive and treasure. I think. That's. Right. At. The.

Time. That. That.