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 search for an endangered bumblebee... MAN: Argh!

NARRATOR: Fun with flying saucers... And... JOE LOVE: Now these all look pretty good.

NARRATOR: Dreams of bass fishing glory, next!

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

(upbeat adventurous music) ♪ ♪ NARRATOR: From classic black and yellow to metallic blues and greens.

Maryland's native bees are a diverse and colorful bunch comprising roughly 450 unique species, and on a warm spring day, many can be spotted buzzing around Patuxent Research Refuge in Prince George's County at the native bee inventory and monitoring lab.

Here U.S. Geological Survey biologist, Sam Droege has spent decades working to fill the gaps in our knowledge of these important pollinators.

SAM DROEGE: There are lots of bumblebees here.

I'd say 23 years ago we started looking at pollinators.

There's no bureau of census of bees, so we're about helping create that.

NARRATOR: Though one type in particular is not on his radar.

SAM: Honeybees are not native, so they play no ecological role in our native environments, but our native bees do.

So we're methodically going through as many plant species as we can, in as many places as we can.

NARRATOR: Tracking the prevalence of each native bee, but also the tastes of these often picky eaters, as well as their preferred shelter types.

SAM: This is our bee home investigation shed.

Behind me, we have a variety of things where bees could possibly nest in them.

Here you can see the anthophora abrupta.

NARRATOR: A kind of ground nesting bee.

SAM: That are nesting in just essentially mud packed into squares of styrofoam and old pots.

NARRATOR: There are also bundles of hollow plant stems and wood drilled with holes for bees as small as a grain of rice up to a half an inch wide to lay their eggs.

SAM: We're constantly trying different little experiments to see if we can attract bees to nest in places that we create for them.

NARRATOR: The goal, to learn how to best create healthy habitat for the state's native bees, many of which are declining due to habitat loss.

SAM: The idea is that you can design a garden that will have and house and help a certain set of bees, but you have to know what the bees are using.

♪♪ NARRATOR: Inside the lab, staff and volunteers help identify and database about 40,000 bees every year, even producing stunning macro photography of select specimens.

But this diligent work came too late for one species.

The rusty patched bumblebee, bombus affinis, a federally endangered species.

In 2002, Droege collected one at the refuge and then nothing.

SAM: Ideally we would say, oh it looks like there's some declines in bombus affinis, maybe we should do something not wow, let's go out and look for them and not find them at all.

RODNEY RICHARDSON: Probably a pretty great birding area as well.

NARRATOR: That is until 20 years later, 2022 when ecologist Mark Hepner encountered the species while surveying for bees in Western Maryland.

Today at the height of summer, he's joined by Rodney Richardson of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science Appalachian Lab to continue the search along the highest ridges in the state.

RODNEY RICHARDSON: A little chilly, not a lot of activity going on yet huh.

NARRATOR: The day starts off slow.

RODNEY: We show up one day, lots of bees.

We show up two days later, same flowers, same place, and so far we've all caught zero bees, NARRATOR: But soon surveyor Grace Avalos has something to show for their effort.

RODNEY: Wow!

Off of Blue vervain?

GRACE AVALOS: Yeah, they're all- most of 'em are on there.

RODNEY: Very nice.

NARRATOR: The Yellow Banded Bumblebee Bombus Terricola.

It's a close relative of affinis that uses similar plants.

RODNEY: So they're kind of sister species.

They prefer similar habitats, similar forage conditions.

NARRATOR: A promising sign that affinis might be close by.

Stopping in Garrett State Forest, Rodney has another trick up his sleeve.

RODNEY: They've left behind little bits of DNA.

NARRATOR: By collecting flowers themselves, his lab can sequence the genetic material that Affinis and other pollinators have left behind.

This is called environmental DNA or EDNA.

RODNEY: And that's one of the nice things about this eDNA is like you know, depending on the method you're using, you can get back a lot of other data on other things that are in the system, right?

[buzzing] You know whatever happened to affinis could happen to any of these other species, and we want to know where it was and how abundant it was, how easy it was to detect, so that we have that data for the future.

♪♪ NARRATOR: Before its decline, affinis was a species easily found in backyards, but even today, you don't have to explore the wilds of Western Maryland to get close to wild bees.

Across Baltimore, pollinator gardens are cropping up, creating habitat corridors amid the concrete and asphalt of the city.

Part of a recent project by the National Wildlife Federation.

In partnership with urban farms like this one in Johnston Square, managed by farmer Liz Lamb.

LIZ LAMB: I immediately jumped at the opportunity because creating a more ecologically focused and biodiverse space increases well-being both for neighbors who get to enjoy the space, get to relax here, but also for all the crops that we're growing.

NARRATOR: Pollinator gardens boost crop yields, improving access to local produce and compared with honeybees, research suggests native bees are even more effective pollinators for many fruits and vegetables.

The farm has been a welcome neighbor for Baltimore resident Theresa Blow.

THERESA BLOW: I love the view.

I also love the fruits and vegetables that I get to get off of the farm.

NARRATOR: When the farm added native plants, Theresa even took some home for a bit of habitat on her deck.

THERESA: I have seen bees.

Yeah they have became our friends around here.

NARRATOR: Back in western Maryland.

The search continues with one last stop along a busy stretch of highway, where valuable plants are like a nature park in linear, hard to appreciate at 55 miles per hour.

At about 3000 feet in elevation, the conditions are right for affinis.

RODNEY: We've had two sightings of Bombus Affinis in this particular location.

One in 2022 and another this year.

NARRATOR: As the temperature starts to warm.

RODNEU: Woodland, sunflower?

MARK HEPNER: Bombus Affinis.

RODNEY: Wow.

MARK: Male.

RODNEY: Very cool.

Yeah, look at that's a, yeah, that's a...bigger one.

NARRATOR: It's just the fifth rusty patched bumblebee found in Maryland since 2022.

After collecting a genetic sample, the male affinis is released back to its habitat.

MARK: Thousands of people go past here... and don't realize it, and so yeah, to have these native flowers at such a density along this roadside is probably why they're here.

I'm glad we found it.

And what an opportunity for recovery.

SAM: A solution to bee conservation problems, it's all about flowers.

bees don't need something mysterious.

They need to eat, so you want good habitats so they have good foods, so they have healthy populations as much as possible, and other than that, it's on them.

♪♪ NARRATOR: Snap of the wrist... a flash of color... and a satisfying [clink].

This is disc golf.

One of the fastest growing sports in the world, with millions of active players.

Will Dobryzkowski started chucking discs as a teen.

WILL DOBRYZKOWSKI: When I was in high school, I'd get out of class and I'd go to the course in Patapsco State Park and I played disc golf with a bunch of old guys, you know, a bunch of hippies or whatever.

That was kind of the stereotype when I first started playing.

NARRATOR: Since then, he's played all over the country, as a pro.

But today he's on his home turf, participating in a tournament at North Glen Park in Glen Burnie.

TOURNAMENT SPEAKER: Thank you everybody for coming out and playing this year's third annual trilogy challenge at North Glen Park.

Rules today you're only throwing the disc you got today.

You throw anything else, anybody sees you do it, you're out of here.

Pretty easy, right?

NARRATOR: Today's event, a trilogy challenge, is designed to encourage newcomers to the sport by providing participants with everything needed for play.

WORKER: Help yourself to the Frisbees in there, just please mark 'em.

NARRATOR: Including three brand new discs.

ORGANIZER: You play with only those disks today and then you keep them, so everybody kind of walks away a winner.

But the official winner is the player who completes each of the course's 18 baskets in the lowest total number of throws.

[unintelligible] NARRATOR: And these aren't your standard issue frisbees, just like the clubs used in traditional golf, there are different types, drivers for distance, WILL: It's to the right, but you kind of want to be left to go to the right.

NARRATOR: Putters for accuracy.

For that first toss from the tee pad, Will chooses a driver, fast and aerodynamic.

He'll take his second shot from wherever the first lands.

WILL: My big thing when I was playing was learning how to use different discs.

So I think that's everybody's bag is so unique and everybody's play style is so unique and I always wanted to experiment with everything and see what's the best.

NARRATOR: Meaning, today's disc limitations present a welcome challenge.

As does the terrain of the course.

WILL: It's all sorts of things I have to consider, like the ceiling and the ground play.

NARRATOR: Or overhead obstacles and how the disc reacts when it hits the ground.

And then, there's the trees.

WILL: Maryland creates a certain type of player you know and Maryland is usually really rough.

I've met a lot of people, like one of my friends moved from Kansas here, and it's a whole different beast coming here because he's used to just being able to throw a disc that just goes one direction in the open.

Now you get here and you got to go through all the trees.

I love this course.

Every time I come back here, it's changed.

It's got a lot better.

NARRATOR: Case in point, these brand new tee pads.

The concrete poured just a couple of months ago.

A volunteer effort led by course founder Jeff Schwablin.

Just one of many upgrades since North Glen's humble beginnings in 2020.

JEFF SCHWABLIN: Really how this got going is I showed up with my friend one day, put one basket in somebody from the local courses, saw the basket there somehow, and a whole community built.

I mean, we've got five guys here today, but any given Saturday, we've probably got about 30, 40 players that'll show up.

NARRATOR: Among them, the courses designer Duncan Yeager.

JEFF: Duncan Yeager is one of the most knowledgeable disc golfers in this area, I would say.

NARRATOR: With a unique ability to see the course for the trees.

JEFF: He would be able to come out and be like, hey, I see this whole 16 right here and when you look at it, it's a hill with about a thousand trees in the middle of the woods and he's able to come out and be like, I think we can do something there.

DUNCAN YEAGER: I want to get to know the area first.

I want to know what the forest will give me for a course.

Put in the fairway.

NARRATOR: Or the path between the tee pad and the basket.

On average, about 200 to 250 feet.

DUNCAN: And then once you get down to particulars, you move a tee pad a foot or two left or right, and exposure completely changes.

NARRATOR: There's some clearing involved poison ivy and brambles, but it's minimal.

DUNCAN: Rule number one, unwritten is the forest comes first, nature comes first.

And then we play around, this is a very unobtrusive sport.

NARRATOR: And a relatively young one.

In the late sixties, inventor Ed Headrick patented the flying saucer and 10 years later, the flying disc entrapment device, earning himself the title father of disc golf.

Duncan says he's been playing since near the beginning.

DUNCAN: I got into the sport in Las Vegas in '78.

NARRATOR: A lot has changed since then with pro players and cash prizes, but at its heart, it remains a walk in the woods with friends.

DUNCAN: We're over here.

NARRATOR: Yeager and his crew meet every Thursday at Druid Hill Park in Baltimore.

NORMAN ECKSTEIN: This was built in 1986.

Myself and two other guys helped design it.

NARRATOR: Both Norman Eckstein and Tom Edwards trace their decades long love affair with the sport to a very simple fact.

TOM: Well, it flies [chuckles].

NORMAN: It's not like a ball, these things actually fly.

NARRATOR: Frisbee physics.

TOM: A baseball goes up, comes down on a parabola, disc golf's more of a three dimensional sport.

The wind is blowing from a certain direction, but is it gusty?

Is it swirling?

DUNCAN: There's a lot of little mental calculations that go on.

You're sort of preparing what you're going to try and accomplish with it, and very rarely does it ever happen, [laughs] but that's the idea.

NARRATOR: And no matter where the disc falls, there's always encouragement and comradery.

NORMAN: Nice Marty, that's impossible.

DUNCAN: And at the end of the day, the score doesn't really matter as much as you're actually playing against the course or against yourself.

[clinking] NARRATOR: Back at the tournament, 63 throws across 18 holes, earns Will fifth place.

But for him too, the score is secondary.

WILL: When you stop having fun, you don't play well and you got to remember why you did this in the first place and it wasn't be professional or whatever.

It's to get out here in nature and enjoy the game.

♪♪ MAN: Official time is 6:24.

NARRATOR: The Potomac lies still on a spring morning.

The first rays of the sun scatter the mist, and bass boats assemble at Smallwood State Park, a bass fishing tournament, one of the biggest in the state.

The quiet is broken.

A symphony of horsepower roars to life.

150 boats begin to fan out across the river at blinding speed.

Retired firefighter Steve Wiseman races to a spot he's been scouting for days.

STEVE WISEMAN: Water's pretty calm up here.

Looks like perfect conditions for top water.

NARRATOR: Steve has been competing in Potomac bass tournaments since 1975.

One of the 30 million people who make this the most popular form of fishing in America.

STEVE: You can be anywhere you want to fish as long as you're not past the mouth of the Potomac River.

NARRATOR: Steve and his partner, Richard Hollywood Ross, start their day at Greenway Flats.

They're hoping to draw some big fish from the rocks and branches that dot the shore.

STEVE: There he is.

NARRATOR: The rules are simple.

Bring up to five fish... STEVE: Net.

NARRATOR: At least 15 inches long back to the dock.

STEVE: He's about the same size as the other one.

NARRATOR: The angler with the largest combined weight wins.

STEVE: Not the one we're looking for.

RICHARD HOLLYWOOD ROSS: Couldn't ask for a better day.

NARRATOR: The challenges are many.

STEVE: They're pretty finicky sometimes.

NARRATOR: The weather's been cold, the fish are lethargic, the tide has started falling.

Concentrating bait fish in deeper water.

Bass should be striking.

There may not be a better time all day to catch, some keepers.

STEVE: There are some good fish here in this grass bed.

NARRATOR: Females are spawning, building nests in the grass beds.

Younger males guard those nests.

STEVE: Right now they're chasing small fish like the blue gill as it comes out of grass, you shake it a little bit.

RICHARD: I'm going to try something to mimic blue gill pattern.

STEVE: He was going in and out of the concrete.

When I was 12 years old, I was over at the Pocomoke River camping with the family and got to talking to some men who were having a bass tournament and one of the gentlemen gave me a couple spinner baits to try out.

I was hooked after that.

NARRATOR: Anyone with a hook and a worm can catch sunfish and catfish in the Potomac.

It's the challenge of the bass and the fight that reels people in.

STEVE: That's some surface activity.

I like it.

NARRATOR: One look at Steve's tackle box tells the story.

STEVE: Spinner baits are very popular.

NARRATOR: Baits to mimic crawfish, chatter baits to mimic bait fish.

STEVE: Sometimes people will dip the tail in chartreuse.

NARRATOR: Imitation worms, lures that bounce across the surface.

STEVE: Your bait is just dancing around.

NARRATOR: Lures that bounce along the bottom.

Frog lures with hidden hooks to sneak through grass beds, swim baits designed to prowl along the edges of grassy spots.

STEVE: These things can cost as much as $100 these days.

NARRATOR: It's a technological arms race so advanced, you might think that people have been hunting freshwater bass here for centuries, but you'd be wrong.

JOE LOVE: It's a goldfish.

NARRATOR: Joe Love and a crew from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources... JOE: It's nice-sized carp.

NARRATOR: Push through lily pads in the Potomac.

CREW MEMBER: Nice fish.

JOE: Yeah, it's a biggun.

NARRATOR: They're using an electric current to stun and count freshwater bass.

JOE: There's another bass.

NARRATOR: Native to the Mississippi watershed, freshwater bass arrived in Maryland in the 19th century.

A railway worker reportedly dumped about 20 fish into the C&O canal basin in 1854, where they thrived.

JOE: These all look pretty good.

NARRATOR: Its ubiquity drove its popularity.

The working man's sport fish.

JOE: 18 and a half inches, 535 grams, and once we tag the fish, we just release it.

NARRATOR: But the fish's success here was never guaranteed.

By the 1950's, pollution posed a serious threat to the Potomac, leaving dead spots up and down its shores.

CREW MEMBER: A lot of times it's the fishermen that tell us what's going on.

Algae bloom, phytoplankton bloom.

NARRATOR: Decades of work have improved the river's condition.

An environmental success the team continues to monitor.

CREW MEMBER 2: Dissolved oxygen is 9.92.

NARRATOR: High oxygen levels in the Chicamuxen creek tell Joe's team that grasses are thriving.

Good news for the fishery.

JOE: 15 years ago they were saying it's not even worth fishing.

Now we're in a completely different situation.

NARRATOR: Besides counting bass, the state also collects breeding stock.

SEAN KNOWLES: Typically, we get 15 females and 30 males.

NARRATOR: At a hatchery in Brandywine, Sean Knowles babysits 40,000 juvenile bass.

Born in ponds here they're reaching two inches long, ready for a new home.

SEAN: Most of these are all going to the Potomac River.

NARRATOR: In two or three years, these fish will be tournament sized.

JOE: Even at low tide, they'll be able to find places to hide in here, survive.

NARRATOR: After a frustrating morning, Steve takes a gamble and makes the long drive to Aquia Flats.

The tide has just begun to expose the grassbeds.

STEVE: That Gar sitting right there.

NARRATOR: A longnose gar eases by.

STEVE: Fish right there.

NARRATOR: And the gamble pays off.

STEVE: Uh huh.

Yup.

A frog lore snags a keeper in the grass.

RICHARD: Biting.

Richard gets a bite as well.

RICHARD: Yeah, a little buck bass protecting the bed.

NARRATOR: But this location was no secret.

All around bass boats work the grass.

They've been testing these coves for days or weeks.

It's the difference between top competitors and weekend warriors.

The best players are out here every day, practicing their craft, picking their spots, studying the fish's patterns.

RICHARD: Yeah it's been awhile.

STEVE: What'd you catch him on?

RICHARD: Purple Worm.

STEVE SIZEMORE: We're going to be paying out almost $5,000 to the winner of this event.

NARRATOR: Steve Sizemore manages tournaments for big league fishing.

STEVE SIZEMORE: Alex Pirowski.

NARRATOR: He says, top anglers here will be invited to a regional tournament in the fall.

STEVE SIZEMORE: Then it moves up to the invitationals and to the Bass Pro tour that everybody watches on tv.

NARRATOR: Competitors step up to the scales and then up to the cameras.

Strict rules are in place to keep the fish alive and return them that way to the river.

STEVE SIZEMORE: Steven Wiseman.

NARRATOR: Steve finished outside the money today.

A slow morning was too much to overcome.

At this point in his career, with shelves full of trophies and countless friends on the dock, he's happy to see this fishery thrive.

STEVE: I've been doing this since 1975 and I still enjoy the comradery and the fishery is beautiful.

We saw deer today and geese today, and Ospreys and Eagles.

[laughter] The guys that caught 'em, they'll have bragging rights for tonight and tomorrow they'll already be talking about the next tournament.

And that's pretty much how it goes.

♪♪ To stream episodes of Outdoors Maryland , visit mpt.org.

And don't forget to follow us on social media.

(owl hoots) Learn more about Maryland's diverse natural resources at... or download the official mobile app.

♪ ♪