A Watchful Eye:
The Natural Resources Police, just over 200 men and women, patrol a half million acres of forest and parks as well as 17,000 miles of waterways. Their job, to protect the waters of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries as well as watch over the animals and the 11 Million citizens who visit our State Parks every year.
Wild Encounters:
Every Year the Maryland Department of Natural Resources fields about ten thousand calls from our citizens concerning Wildlife. Learn what is being done to ease the problems sometimes created by Human/Wildlife encounters with the emphasis on safety for both people and the animals.
A Renewed Spirit:
War injuries and prosthesis don't keep Chris Frost and other Vets from pushing themselves to new levels of achievement as in this two day, one hundred and twelve mile bike ride called Face of America. By focusing on some bigger, positive goal and not their wounds the Vets soon realize they can accomplish anything.
A Sportsman's Paradise:
Every Autumn a winged migration from Canada turns Maryland's Eastern shore into a Sportsman's Paradise. There is the Waterfowl Festival in Easton, A Goose and Duck calling competition as well as hunting.
Tiny Tigers:
Discover what is being done to both save the endangered Puritan Tiger Beetle as well as protect the cliffs where they live.
An Urban Oasis:
Every imaginable activity is available to visitors at Patapsco Valley State Park, the oldest State Park in Maryland. The grounds are divided into 8 sections, each with their own unique character.
Island Gateway:
Janes Island, often called the Caribbean of the Chesapeake, offers visitors tent camping and cabins, canoe and kayak rentals boat slips and a dock area. Fishing and crabbing are favorite adventures here as well as Park Quest... a wildly successful program to create good old fashioned outdoor fun for the whole family.
Schooner Schooling:
This nearly perfect reproduction of an 18th century schooner called The Sultana was largely financed and built by the citizens of Chestertown, MD to become a "floating classroom" for children throughout the State.
Any Given Sunday:
Teams of hunters and their canine companions compete in the annual "Retriever Gun-Dog Championship" sponsored by the Maryland Waterfowler's Association which tests dogs in situations they’d likely encounter on a typical hunt.
Island Nesters:
DNR scientists fear for the future of our Colonial Nesting Water Birds which are an essential element of our state’s astonishing Wildlife diversity. Coastal Development, pollution, sea level rise and competition between species are all contributing to the disappearance of their nesting areas.
Spanning Time:
Born as an ingenious solution to a vexing engineering problem, covered bridges still survive throughout Maryland as touchstones to our past. Six covered bridges have survived across the state, transforming small vignettes of Maryland landscapes into something out of a Norman Rockwell painting.
Urban Paradise:
The National Arboretum in Washington, DC is one of the city's little known wonders. It is a quiet beauty amid the restlessness of everyday life... it is a place of peace, a comforting retreat supporting sixteen thousand different accessions of plant material that represent nearly ten thousand unique species: Asian plants, Azaleas, Dogwoods, Boxwoods, Magnolias, Perennials, Conifers. It is also home to The National Bonsai and Penjing Museum.
Iron Heart:
Brian Boyle's comeback from Coma to champion Triathlete.
Color and Light:
It's the landscape that draws Maryland artist Kevin Fitzgerald to the land... the gentle lure of color and light.
Like Nowhere Else:
New Germany State Park offers visitors camping in all seasons, fishing, boating, hunting and both downhill and cross country skiing.
Polar Bear Plunge:
Outdoor extremists brave the frigid water of the Chesapeake Bay for a good cause, the Special Olympics.
