The award-winning series shares stories about wildlife, people, and places throughout the Free State
Maryland Public Television’s (MPT) award-winning original series Outdoors Maryland returns for its 36th season on Tuesday, November 12 with the first of five new episodes. Produced in cooperation with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Outdoors Maryland continues to captivate viewers with memorable stories and compelling photography.
Outdoors Maryland airs on Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. on MPT-HD and online at mpt.org/livestream, with encore broadcasts on Saturdays at 4:30 p.m. Episodes will be available to watch live and on demand via MPT’s online video player and the free PBS app at the time of their premiere. Episode segments are available on the series’ YouTube channel at youtube.com/@OutdoorsMarylandTV.
The season’s first two episodes, premiering on November 12 and 19, feature aerial adventures, curious creatures, archaeological discoveries, and thought-provoking art, among other topics. Segments debuting during the season premiere are:
- Up in the Air (Allegany, Wicomico counties) – Join members of the Cumberland Soaring Association as they travel over mountainous western Maryland in “gliders” or “sail planes” – a type of engineless fixed wing aircraft. These tiny planes are towed up into the air by a standard plane. Once aloft, they rely on thermals – columns of rising hot air – to gain height.
Then, travel to the Salisbury Regional Airport in Wicomico County, where students from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, a historically Black university that’s home to the state’s only aviation degree program, take flight with an instructor in pursuit of careers as professional pilots.
- Saltmarsh Sunrises (Somerset County) – The tidal wetlands on Deal Island are being inundated by rising waters due to climate change, but efforts are underway to restore and protect this important habitat for the sake of local communities and wildlife alike. Join a biologist with the Chesapeake Bay Estuarine Research Reserve as she trudges through the marsh to survey a “living shoreline” installed to protect the island’s residents from flooding, and learn how a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredging project is helping to restore the marsh. Meanwhile, at the Maryland Ornithological Society’s Irish Grove Sanctuary in Marion Station, biologists with Audubon Mid-Atlantic trap and study the rare saltmarsh sparrow. The bird’s presence at the sanctuary is threatened by the loss of marshland.
- Cresap Country (Allegany County and southern Pennsylvania) – Dig into the story of one of Maryland’s most infamous colonial figures – Thomas Cresap – while exploring his 18th century stomping grounds. Archaeologists with the Maryland Historical Trust excavate Cresap’s homestead and trading post in Oldtown. 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.
Segments premiering during the November 19 episode are:
- Weaving Nature (Baltimore County) – Follow artist David Bacharach as he constructs a large installation of “land art” at Irvine Nature Center in Owings Mills. 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” – intended to encapsulate humanity’s legacy of environmental exploitation.
- Upstream Odyssey (Worcester, Howard, Baltimore, Harford counties) – Tag along with biologists from Maryland DNR, the Susquehanna River Basin Commission, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as they work to track the mysterious American eel’s population and restore its presence in Maryland’s waterways. 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 habitats.
On November 26, Outdoors Maryland will deliver an encore presentation of an episode from last season featuring a story about an ongoing wild turkey survey in recognition of the Thanksgiving holiday. Season 36 episode premieres will resume beginning on December 3.
Audiences are invited to engage with the series on social media @OutdoorsMaryland on Facebook and @OutdoorsMarylandTV on Instagram.
Since debuting in 1988, MPT has produced more than 700 Outdoors Maryland stories on topics ranging from science-oriented environmental issues to segments about unusual people, animals, and places around the state. The series has earned more than 50 awards over 36 years of production, including 24 Emmy® Awards from the National Capital Chesapeake Bay Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
About Maryland Public Television
Maryland Public Television (MPT) is a statewide, public-supported TV network and Public Broadcasting Service member offering entertaining, educational, and inspiring content delivered by traditional broadcasting and streaming on TVs, computers, and mobile devices. A state agency, it operates under the auspices of the Maryland Public Broadcasting Commission. MPT creates and distributes local, regional, and national content and is a frequent winner of regional Emmy® awards. MPT’s commitment to educators, parents, caregivers, and learners of all ages is delivered through instructional events and Thinkport.org. MPT’s year-round community engagement activities connect viewers with resources on a wide range of topics. For more information visit mpt.org.
