Celebrating 36 Years of Outdoors Maryland!
Season 36 Premieres November 12, 2024 at 7:30pm
Airing on Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m.
Get ready for five all new episodes of MPT’s long-running series Outdoors Maryland! From the rocky ridgelines of the Appalachian mountains to the Chesapeake's tidal salt marshes, we’ve traveled all over the state to bring you stories that celebrate its diverse natural resources.
Join outdoor enthusiasts as they sail through Maryland's skies and swim its wide-open waters. Meet local wildlife, from a rare marsh bird to the mysterious American eel. Witness art that addresses nature's plight. Experience the thrill of rodeo—on land and in the water! And get to know the many Marylanders working tirelessly to preserve the state’s natural wonders in the face of an ever-changing world.
Episode 3605
Air Date: February 4, 2025
A Fragile Inheritance
Maryland, like the rest of the world, faces a biodiversity crisis. More than 1250 native plant and animal species have been designated state-rare, threatened or endangered–while others have vanished altogether. In this half hour special, meet some of the Marylanders fighting to protect the state’s legacy of life.
Tag along with citizen scientists for a bioblitz–a rapidfire biological inventory–of New Germany State Park in mountainous western Maryland, hosted by the Maryland Biodiversity Project. Visit Piscataway Park and the National Colonial Farm to uncover the legacy of human impacts on state wildlife. Join biologists at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center as they survey a restored oyster reef on the South River, using new technology to track hidden biodiversity. And visit Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History to learn how that hidden or “cryptic” biodiversity is brought to light. Finally, watch an Eastern Shore wetland transform during and after a controlled burn by the MD/DC Chapter of the Nature Conservancy, and at Nassawango Creek Preserve, an open pine savannah, discover how sound recording technology is helping scientists measure the benefits of controlled burns for fire-adapted bird species – including the rapidly declining red-headed woodpecker.
Episode 3604
Air Date: December 10, 2024
Bucking Tradition
Produced by Jack Harris
Follow a family of Maryland cowboys and cowgirls as they prepare for and compete in rodeo events including the Battle of the Bulls at the Maryland State Fair, and a Maryland High School Rodeo Association competition. Mom Robyn Jackson and dad Corey Jackson met at the Bill Pickett Invitation Rodeo – a traveling event that celebrates the contributions of Black rodeo performers. Today, their children make up the Jackson Family Rodeo Crew, competing in rodeo events ranging from bull-riding to barrel racing to goat roping.
Timber Trials
Produced by Frank Batavick and Katie Brader
Join forestry students at Allegany College of Maryland in Cumberland as they prepare for and compete in the annual Mid-Atlantic Woodsmen Competition. From chain-sawing to tree-climbing to axe-throwing, the little-known sport celebrates many of the skills associated with traditional forestry. Plus, join a Maryland forester out in the field near Westminster to discover how these time-tested skills are used in the conservation and management of Maryland’s woodlands.
Pier Pressure
Produced by Andrew Paterson
A unique Chesapeake Bay tradition that evolved out of informal competitions between working watermen into events that draw hundreds of spectators, extreme boat docking (or, water rodeo) sees expert boaters tackle high-speed docking challenges. Join competitors in advance of the competition as they practice – and work the water, pulling in crab pots – and then follow along for the main event: a competition hosted by the Chesapeake Cowboys.
Episode 3603
Air Date: December 3, 2024
Ribbons in the Tide
Produced by Stefanie Robey
Underwater grasses are key to the health of the Chesapeake Bay and other marine ecosystems, providing habitat for wildlife, absorbing pollution, and helping mitigate shoreline erosion. But over the past century, these essential plants have declined sharply. Follow along as biologists collect seeds from healthy populations, process them in “turbulators”, and scatter them in areas in need of restoration. Plus, visit Deep Creek Lake, where a team of snorkelers are planting freshwater grasses.
Ghost Rivers
Produced by Kathryn Pasternak
A wavy blue line winds its way over streets and sidewalks in Baltimore’s Remington neighborhood. This is “Ghost Rivers,” a public art project that memorializes the waterways buried beneath the city, within its aging stormwater sewer system. Join artist Bruce Willen as he wraps up installation on the project, and tag along with a team from the Baltimore Department of Public Works as they sample an underground stream, searching for signs of pollution.
Horizon Lines
Produced by Henley Moore
Discover the draw of distant horizons with a group of open-water swimmers in Eastern Bay. Learn how volunteers with environmental nonprofit ShoreRivers sample the waters of Chesapeake beaches to assess safety for recreation, part of a program called “Swimmable ShoreRivers.” Plus, in Cambridge, hundreds of athletes make the two-mile swim across the Choptank River during the annual Maryland Freedom Swim.
Episode 3602
Air Date: November 19, 2024
Weaving Nature
Produced by Jeff Bieber
Follow artist David Bacharach as he constructs a large installation of “land art” at Irvine Nature Center in Baltimore County. With a palette of materials consisting of invasive trees and vines, and metal and plastic trash collected from the side of the road, he builds a series of three larger-than-life sculptures – Land, Air, and Water – that seek to encapsulate humanity’s legacy of environmental exploitation.
Upstream Odyssey
Produced by Sarah Sampson
Meet the mysterious American eel! Born in the Sargasso Sea, these long slimy fish migrate thousands of miles into freshwater rivers and streams – including tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay. Damming of waterways has contributed to the steep decline in eel populations, as they were blocked from accessing important upstream habitat. Here in Maryland, biologists work to track and restore the state’s eel populations.
Episode 3601
Air Date: November 12, 2024
Up in the Air
Produced by Andrew Paterson
Join adrenaline-junkies with the Cumberland Soaring Group as they fly over mountainous western Maryland in “gliders” or “sail planes” – a type of engineless fixed wing aircraft. Plus, travel to the Salisbury Airport in Wicomico County, where students from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore – an HBCU and home to the state’s only aviation degree program – take flight with an instructor in pursuit of careers as professional pilots.
Saltmarsh Sunrises
Produced by Will Parson
As climate change threatens the salt marshes of Maryland’s lower eastern shore, scientists work to protect this fragile ecosystem. At the Maryland Ornithological Society’s Irish Grove Sanctuary, biologists with Audubon Mid-Atlantic trap and study the rare saltmarsh sparrow, a bird whose presence is threatened by the rising tides. Meanwhile, on nearby Deal Island, a new “living shoreline” offers local communities protection from flooding.
Cresap Country
Produced by Jack Harris
Dig into the story of one of Maryland’s most infamous colonial figures – Thomas Cresap – while exploring his 18th century stomping grounds. Join archaeologists with the Maryland Historical Trust as they excavate Cresap’s homestead and trading post in Oldtown, MD. Visit the site of Cresap’s ferry across the Susquehanna River, where his animosity towards Pennsylvania sparked a border conflict known as “Cresap’s War.” And meet his descendants in the Cresap Society as they search for traces of their heritage in the wilds of western Maryland.