ANNOUNCER: This program is made by MPT to enrich the diverse communities throughout our state and is made possible by the generous support of our members.

Thank you.

NARRATOR: Coming up, the case of the disappearing turkeys... Pups... KEN MATHIAS: "Yes.

Good girl, yes!"

NARRATOR: On patrol... And testing the waters of Maryland streams, next!

Outdoors Maryland is produced in cooperation with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

(upbeat adventurous music) ♪ ♪ NARRATOR: Creeping through the pre-dawn darkness of an Eastern Shore farm field, Department of Natural Resources Biologist Bob Long works quickly and quietly in the February chill, readying a trap... to capture a creature that lurks in the nearby woods... with a keen sense of sight and sound.

BOB: [Whispering] Now we hope that the birds come just wait quietly until they show up.

NARRATOR: As the sun rises, he bides his time.

BOB: Keep everything as natural as possible so they don't sense any- anybody here.

NARRATOR: Until finally they appear... wild turkeys.

BOB: Wild turkeys have very keen senses.

They're exceptionally wary.

They're constantly looking for danger.

NARRATOR: But these particular birds can rest easy.

Bob is after females or hens.

These are gobblers.

BOB: [Whispering] We'll give it another few hours and see if they show up.

NARRATOR: Today's stakeout is part of a comprehensive wild turkey population survey, which scientists hope will help solve an important mystery about these paranoid birds.

The case of the disappearing turkeys.

BOB: Prior to European settlement, Turkey populations were very healthy.

There were reports of early settlers that said that there were flocks of hundreds of turkeys pretty much everywhere that they went.

NARRATOR: But over time, unrestricted hunting took its toll [pop] and logging eliminated large swaths of habitat.

By the turn of the 20th century, Maryland's wild turkeys had vanished from all but the western most tip of the state.

Hope came in the form of new technology, the rocket net, a device invented in the fifties that enabled the capture of live birds.

BOB: We relocated those birds around the state to suitable habitats that were just unoccupied and the population took off and they did quite well.

NARRATOR: In some places they still are.

BOB: In other areas, like where we're at now, they've peaked and now they've started to decline.

We're trying to understand why that is.

What factors might've caused this decline in reproduction.

NARRATOR: Back in the blind, Bob's patience is about to pay off.

Finger on the detonator, he watches for the perfect moment and then... [shot fires] [wings flapping] he runs.

BOB: So once we deploy the net, we try to get on those birds as quickly as possible to make sure that they don't lose too many feathers or harm themselves in the net.

NARRATOR: Birds extricated.

BOB: Juvenile hen.

NARRATOR: Bob and his crew collect weights and blood samples before attaching radio transmitters to the hens.

BOB: Because they're the ones that are nesting and raising young, kind of driving that population.

We're looking at the impact of everything from predators, weather, habitat, disease.

NARRATOR: Finally, after a flurry of activity, it's time to turn loose.

These turkeys turned informants and hope that they lead the way to clues.

[wings flapping] ♪♪ On a sunny June morning, late into the breeding season, Bob drives the rural back roads of Wicomico County, an antenna trained on the tree line.

BOB: We can generally tell how close we are just based on the volume of the pings.

NARRATOR: Right now he's in range of a hen nesting in the nearby woods.

BOB: The transmitter that's on this hen has been collecting data.

NARRATOR: A quick download, and he has a GPS track plus movement data from an accelerometer.

BOB: And it looks like she was flushed from that location where she was roosting sometime during the night, which is not typical behavior.

So we're fairly certain that she's lost that nest for some reason and we'll need to go in and investigate the fate of that nest.

NARRATOR: It's not easygoing, but after about a half an hour of searching this mucky bog, they find it, the scene of the crime.

BOB: This is what we call the nest bowl.

It's just a shallow depression on the ground.

Feathers scattered out through vegetation.

There's no evidence of any eggshells.

Foxes will do that.

It could be a raccoon, although usually raccoons will leave some eggshell remnants around only one out of every four or five nests actually successfully hatches.

NARRATOR: Understanding why nests fail is just part of the puzzle.

Bob also hopes to crack the code of why certain nests succeed.

BOB: Pretty good nesting cover.

NARRATOR: One of Bob's birds has been sitting still in this field for the past 28 days, the precise incubation period of a wild turkey.

Yesterday, she left.

It's well hidden amongst the dense grasses.

BOB: Looks like it hatched.

NARRATOR: Which likely helped these eggs avoid detection by predators.

BOB: 9, 10, 11, 12.

No unhatched, no predated.

So these types of habitats just generally are not as common as they once were.

One of our hypotheses that maybe that is a limiting factor on Turkey populations.

[buzzing] NARRATOR: Early the next morning, Bob's back out tracking a different bird.

BOB: Once those poults hatch out, it's a real high mortality rate.

Small odds of growing into an adult turkey.

You know what these woods are like.

Let's try to cut through here.

So what we're doing today is trying to locate this hen and see number one, if she has young surviving, and then number two, how many.

NARRATOR: Creeping as close as they dare, they crouch down and play a recording of a lost poult's cry.

[high pitched whine] An attempt to lure the hen and her young out from hiding.

Bob watches through an infrared camera.

BOB: You can see live animals, anything with a heat signature.

She is, I see her there.

NARRATOR: She's alone.

But amongst the brush, a lost poult cries out.

This one, the real deal.

BOB: That poult.

It's just hiding in that briar patch.

NARRATOR: At least one baby bird has beaten the odds.

As for the bigger mystery... That of the disappearing turkeys... Bob is still hot on the case.

BOB: I think turkeys are really special to a lot of people.

They're a pretty large, very charismatic bird.

I think it's important to restore these species to their historic range.

So the more detail that we can get, the more it informs our management strategies and we can try to understand what's happening.

[turkey calls softly] ♪♪ OFFICER: Come on Buck!

NARRATOR: Beneath the bare trees at Sandy Point State Park, the search is underway for a missing person.

Buck a two year old German Shepherd darts through the forest following his nose, to success.

OFFICER: Good boy!

NARRATOR: This game of hide and seek is a training exercise part of an eight week course designed to groom the next cohort of canines for the Maryland Natural Resources Police Special Operations Division.

OFFICER: Stay.

APRIL SHARPETA: Our canine unit specializes in tracking of people, evidence recovery and wildlife detection.

Do you see her?

These dogs are very unique.

NARRATOR: Sergeant April Sharpeta leads the unit.

SGT.

SHARPETA: These dogs can go and smell into areas where we cannot easily go.

MAN: What's this?

SGT.

SHARPETA: The dogs are very agile.

They are able to hop up on things, move around things.

They definitely can maneuver through the woods, briars, sand, water, muck, whatever, and they enjoy it.

NARRATOR: Hidden deer meat simulates real life scenarios, searching for evidence of illegal hunting or poaching.

OFFICER 2: So we are hiding parts of whitetailed deer.

We're going to have the dogs search the area and locate where they're at.

KEN MATHIAS: Alright, too high.

NARRATOR: Ken Mathias was brought in to work with this new group of canine cadets and their handlers sharing his four decades of experience in law enforcement and dog training.

KEN: Here you go, tap.

The important part is making sure that the right handler is placed with the correct dog.

Yes!

Good boy.

Good boy.

You are taking two living things and getting them to mesh and work together.

That's the challenging part.

[rustling] NARRATOR: During another test, Officer Brian Walter works with his new partner, a Dutch Malinois named Jazzy, to scour the underbrush and locate a hidden rifle.

BRIAN WALTER: Our world is all visual.

The dog that we choose for this world is all odor recognition.

NARRATOR: But having a nose for the job is only part of the qualification.

KEN: See it?

I do.

Excellent.

Good girl!

SGT.

SHARPETA: A lot of 'em really have a drive inside them and they want to show off their abilities.

NARRATOR: A quality shared by the officers, tested and accepted into the unit as well.

SGT.

SHARPETA: What we look for is somebody that's driven that wants to be able to use those dogs, go out, look for calls.

The dogs make things a lot faster for us.

In years past, if somebody had a missing article with human scent on it in a natural area or missing shell casing, anything like that, we would line up teams of people to go look for it.

Now we can run a dog in a quarter of the time, if not less.

KEN: It saves taxpayers dollars, but it also saves lives.

So if you're looking for the missing child, a dog has a much better shot at finding them than a whole herd of humans.

Yes, good girl!

Jazzy.

NARRATOR: Ken's primary training tool, positive reinforcement for dogs and humans.

KEN: Perfect Brian.

You did good.

Everything travels down the leash to the dog.

So our objective is to make sure that the handlers enjoy it and when the handlers enjoy it, the dog enjoys it.

When both enjoy it, that yields success, which ultimately builds confidence from the handler in the dog.

NARRATOR: The dogs live in the handler's home, but they're not pets.

They're partners in work and life.

KEN: The bond that these handlers will have, especially over time is the dogs are part of the family.

NARRATOR: Sergeant Sharpeta understands that well, after 20 years working with dogs herself.

SGT.

SHARPETA: There you go.

NARRATOR: The last eight, with 10 year old Badger.

SGT.

SHARPETA: They definitely pick up on all of our cues very quickly.

He knows when I'm upset, he knows when I'm happy.

He knows when I put the sirens on that something serious is happening.

NARRATOR: Badger's service though, is coming to a close.

SGT.

SHARPETA: He isn't running as fast as these new dogs are and he's battling a few illnesses.

He still enjoys work, but he's going to be retiring soon.

NARRATOR: A bittersweet moment for sure, but as one career ends, others are just starting out.

SGT.

SHARPETA: It's exciting for me to have other people get to experience what this is like because there's nothing like working a dog.

NARRATOR: A message Ken shares with everyone at graduation.

KEN: As a canine handler, you have the best job in law enforcement.

You ride around with your best friend in the car and at the end of the day you go home with your best friend.

And you get paid to do it.

[clapping] NARRATOR: The new K-9 teams will headquarter across the state, but each could be called on anywhere a need arises.

Just months on the job now, and Brian and Jazzy have successfully sniffed out discarded firearms, a hidden burglar and helped locate a lost child.

They remain ready to respond 24/7.

BRIAN: She is always on, all the time.

It doesn't matter what she's doing, she always wants to do something.

She knows that if my uniform comes out of the closet, then she gets to go do something and for her, everything's a game.

She doesn't think of it as work.

NARRATOR: But of course, it is work and critically important too.

[radio talking] And so with his police radio always on, Brian listens for any opportunity to lend a hand.

And paw... BRIAN: As the days go on and the calls come in, it is more exciting every day because you don't know what you're going to get into from the time that you sign on your shift.

NARRATOR: First thing, this summer morning, the Harford County Sheriff's Office asks Brian for assistance during the search for a missing person.

An elderly man thought to be wandering these woods behind a local church.

OFFICER 3: Right now we have an 80 year old dementia patient that walked off from a private residence about 10 O'clock last night.

We found a gentleman's hat over here by the building here.

So that's going to start our last known position up there.

NARRATOR: Once deployed, Jazzy rushes into the forest... combing the ground for clues.

BRIAN: Jazz used a scent article for the point last known.

She tracked into the woods to start the track of the direction of travel where the gentleman went.

NARRATOR: Soon the 80 year old grandfather safely emerges from the forest and the authorities provide the necessary assistance.

While Jazzy didn't find him, she did confirm his direction, earning the respect, admiration, and continued devotion of her partner Brian.

BRIAN: I never knew what dogs were capable of and how much they can benefit law enforcement, whether it's the search and rescue side or it's the police work side.

When Jazz completes a task, it's the most rewarding thing of this job.

Having the dog be excited, knowing that she did well, I hope that we can continue training together and she gets better every day and that we're able to help the people in Maryland.

♪♪ ♪♪ NARRATOR: Slippery, shifty figures dart amongst the riffles and the rocks.

Shadows navigating a secret world.

Hidden in plain sight, a small Maryland stream.

[leaves crunching] And on a hot May afternoon, aspiring stream samplers plumb the depths, or rather the shallows discovering for themselves what lurks beneath.

WILLIAM HARBOLD: So everyone is gathered here today for the summer session of the Maryland Biological Stream Survey training seminar.

NARRATOR: Held this year in Bowie State University's backyard, a tributary to the Patuxent River.

WILLIAM: It covers the summer sampling protocols, including fish sampling and identification of fish, reptiles, amphibians, crayfish, and freshwater mussels.

[bubbling] ♪♪ NARRATOR: Established in 1993, the Maryland Biological Stream Survey or MBSS collects data on the ecological condition of more than 16,000 miles of Maryland streams and rivers.

The vast majority tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay, meaning even the smallest trickle, can affect conditions within the nation's largest estuary.

With so much ground to cover, consistency is key.

Which is why MBSS hosts trainings like this one.

WILLIAM: It should give you confidence that the data that's being collected that drive policy decisions for how streams are managed in Maryland is collected appropriately and effectively and comparably throughout the state.

NARRATOR: While some trainees are back at the stream site, others are in Bowie State's Center for Natural Science, anxiously cramming for a looming exam.

A test of their knowledge of Maryland's many stream dwellers.

KEVIN: This is an eastern rat snake, also known as a black rat snake.

NARRATOR: A common species, but one that tends to trip up test takers according to Department of Natural Resources Ecologist, Kevin Stohlgren.

KEVIN: The eastern rat snake is often confused with the black racer.

They're more like a breadloaf shaped, which allows them to climb trees.

NARRATOR: The exam covers amphibians, invertebrates, and of course fish.

JAY KILIAN: Several of the species in Maryland, like species of minnow, are differentiated by a single count of anal fin rays or a lateral line scale count.

And it's just stressful.

It's very difficult to pass the test initially.

NARRATOR: But by midsummer, newly certified samplers are out in the field putting their training into practice.

WILLIAM: It's fulfilling to see people who have come to our training, who have gotten something from our training and learned how to do the work that we do.

Then being able to participate and be good supporting members of our crew during those field surveys.

NARRATOR: MBSS crews sample four days a week from June through September, hitting multiple sites a day.

Biologist Scott Stranko leads a crew to Harford County's Harford Glen, home to one of the state's struggling streams.

SCOTT: Here actually, we can see where some erosion has occurred.

This indicates that we've got some really strong flows coming through here.

NARRATOR: A byproduct of heavy development upstream.

JAY: Land use is a big driver of stream condition, a lot of parking lots, a lot of roadways, driveways, rooftops drain into this watershed.

NARRATOR: Faster flows means more erosion, which in turn means more sediment, clogging up the nooks and crannies beneath rocks and boulders.

The crew measures the extent to which these crevices are clogged and calls this embeddedness.

It's scored on a scale of 0 to 100 percent.

WILLIAM: What are you thinking?

SCOTT: Yeah, I'm looking roughly at 20, 25 percent here.

NARRATOR: Surveyors also measure flow rates and depth as well as the abundance of tiny creatures called benthic macroinvertebrates using a net and bucket, WILLIAM: A benthic macroinvertebrate is an invertebrate, so it doesn't have a backbone that's going to be a worm, an insect, a crustacean.

It's a macroinvertebrate because it's visible to the naked eye and it's a benthic macroinvertebrate because it lives on the benthic habitat, the bottom of the stream.

SCOTT: Not quite the diversity here that we might see in a healthier stream.

NARRATOR: Such as this one, Gladden branch, a tributary of Deer Creek located in a less developed part of the county.

Its forested banks and clear cold water should translate to more diversity of life.

But Jay and his crew will soon know for sure.

The crew begins prepping for a round of electrofishing.

Step one, blocking off the area.

JAY: We're trying to assess the fish community and the population that is there.

So we don't want fish moving in and out of the site.

We're closing that area of the stream off so that we can assess the true abundance of the fishes within our segment.

NARRATOR: Next, the crew gears up in ghostbuster like backpacks and protective rubber waders, before making their way slowly upstream.

Wand like shockers, send a charge of current into the water column and netters trail behind catching stunned fish as they float to the stream's surface.

JAY: Just now approaching the upper block net.

So we're finishing up the first electrofishing pass.

We will take what we've caught in the first pass, go below the site and process the fish.

Identify everything we've caught.

MARY: Two creek chubb.

Seven eels.

NARRATOR: These American eels have traveled a long journey to get here.

JAY: They come upstream from Atlantic Ocean.

Having an eel here tells us that there is no major blockage between this tributary and the Susquehanna River and the Chesapeake Bay.

NARRATOR: They also found brook trout.

A species of conservation concern in Maryland.

JAY: It is very sensitive to temperature.

The presence of brook trout here tells us that this stream maintains temperatures pretty cold all year round.

NARRATOR: All indicators that Gladden Branch is thriving.

Good news for the rest of the watershed.

SCOTT: The connectivity between streams and downstream waters can't be overemphasized.

Places like Chesapeake Bay and our reservoirs and coastal bays.

These streams, if they are healthy, then those downstream waters will be healthy.

NARRATOR: Ultimately, the data collected by intrepid crews like this one.

SCOTT: Just beautiful.

NARRATOR: Will help scientists not only track the health of Maryland's waterways, but make decisions about where and when to intervene, on behalf of the little guys.

SCOTT: Most species that are imperiled tend to be animals that live in streams.

For example, freshwater mussels, freshwater fish, crayfish, and amphibians streams are in people's backyards and people care about their streams.

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