if you live in maryland, you've heard about blue crabs, a chesapeake bay icon. but scuttling along the salty shorelines of maryland's ocean beaches and coastal bays are as many as 35 other kinds of crabs you're unlikely to meet in a crabcake. jim casey was fisheries biologist for 37 years with the department of natural resources fisheries service. he emerged from retirement just to help find some of these crustaceans beyond blue - from tidal marsh to ocean surf. >> jim casey: with the type of habitat that we have, there are many, many more crabs than just blue crabs. many of them which come in seasonally, others which are brought in by storms, but we can have as many as 35 different species in the coastal bays. >> narrator: maryland's coastal bays lay behind assateague island and ocean city. there's a reason these waters are so rich in marine life. the bays were filled with sea water when the inlet at ocean city was carved out by a major hurricane in 1933. >> casey: we're right on the edge of a very dynamic area. this is the atlantic ocean out there, thousands of square miles of open water, and we're right on the edge of it. so, all kinds of creatures come in here. >> narrator: every year the dnr surveys the coastal bays for species large enough to be caught in a net. they count fish and crabs. >> casey: we have documented about 140 different species of fin fish, shell fish, and other organisms out here. >> narrator: the critters sampled in this netfull includes a variety of hermit crabs, which take over abandoned snail shells as they grow. >> casey: they'll leave the one shell and try out the next one. it's like a set of clothing. they're trying the next shell; if it feels comfortable, if it's the right size, they'll take it over. otherwise, they'll go back in their old shell and go looking for another one. these types of crabs have been around for hundreds of thousands, if not millions of years. >> narrator: there's another species that borrows from its environment, too. >> casey: small spider crab. carries his camouflage on his back. there he's put some algae on his back to camouflage himself. >> narrator: some crabs prefer the more shallow waters of the coastal bays' salt marshes. >> casey: it's fascinating to see that each small habitat type is occupied by a creature that has adapted to it. they are part of the habitat, they are a necessary part of it, they perform a certain function in there, they fit a certain job that they do. these are the typical mud fiddler or marsh fiddler. these are the males, they have a large claw. they occur either way, this one's left-handed and one's right-handed. and they're usually in the hole when the tide comes in. and they come out to feed as the tide goes out because it's leaving a lot of detritus behind. >> narrator: detritus is a fancy word for those yummy decaying plants the crabs love. >> casey: they are one of the major recyclers of nutrients in a marsh. >> narrator: the male crab waves his big claw to attract females and scare off other males. >> casey: marshes like this have millions of these small fiddler crabs, whether they're sand fiddlers, mud fiddlers, or even the brackish water fiddler. they usually occur in large numbers. >> narrator: these were mud marshes. the coastal bays sandy marshes are home to more crabs. >> casey: these are horseshoe crabs. a very primitive organism. these crabs have been around for about 360 million years, virtually unchanged. they were here for at least a hundred million years before the dinosaurs were. it's not a true crab. it's actually related more to terrestrial spiders, ticks and scorpions. it has two eyes up here, on top of its head. the tail is not poisonous. it's used as a rudder for steering and also to turn themselves right side up if a wave turned them upside down. >> narrator: horseshoe crab eggs are essential food for migrating waterfowl from central and south america. competing with the waterfowl are watermen who use the crabs for bait, and pharmaceutical companies who use their ancient clear blood in tests for drug purity. >> casey: yeah, these are two species of spider crabs that are found in maryland's coastal bays. here they like the high salinity waters. one thing unusual about them is that when they shed, they all shed within 24 hours of each other. all crabs shed in a very similar manner. this seam, or break, is able to separate, and the crab essentially walks backwards out of its shell. and that's the same with the blue crab, too. they have many sheds in their earlier years than they do in their later years. >> narrator: some crabs come to maryland shores uninvited and unwelcome. >> casey: this is the green crab. the green crab is actually an invasive species. it's not native to maryland, it's native to the baltic ocean in europe. it is very aggressive. it has chased the blue crab out of some of its habitat and it's taken it over. it's not the only invasive species we have here. now, all these came over here somehow, most likely on ships. >> narrator: assateague island, along maryland's ocean shore, welcomes its native sand-loving crabs. ghost crabs scurry across the beach, blissfully oblivious of ocean city, shimmering like a mirage in the distance. >> casey: the ghost crab is a small crab that lives on the beach. they come out in cloudy days or at night, and they will feed on anything that's dead that's drifted up on the shore. they're actually the color of sand, so they're very difficult to see. and they're also very difficult to catch. they can run as fast as 10 miles an hour, and make a 90 degree turn without slowing down. it also has its eyes up on stalks. they can actually see more than we can, almost 360 degrees. now, this ghost crab didn't make it. he was probably killed last night. you can see where a small bird came in over here, caught the crab, and then once he had eaten what he wanted, he moved off over in this direction, over the peak of the dune. >> narrator: dozens more crabs find a home in maryland...for now. >> casey: well, diversity is a measure of habitat quality. fish and other animals are not separated from humans, we're all part of the same environment. what affects the habitat for one affects for all. and so that's a good reason for maintaining the best quality habitat that we can afford to maintain. >> narrator: the middle branch of baltimore's patapsco river is the heart of the harbor, a busy waterway for tankers and tugs, and that most fragile of all craft...the racing shell. the sheltered basin of the middle branch is the home of baltimore's rowing community. operating out of this boat house is a bustling collection of high school and college crews, and the baltimore rowing club, founded back in 1976. 47-year-old architect marc daemen, who competes internationally, has made the brc his home. >> daemen: baltimore has a wonderful area to row. it's comparable or better than many of the other rowing venues in the mid-atlantic or anywhere on the eastern seaboard. >> narrator: daemen is a 20 year veteran of the sport. >> daemen: it was purely by luck that i discovered rowing because i was actually in triathlons and marathons. i went to a site where i would be participating in a triathlon the following week and there were people rowing. it looked like ballet on water. the very basics and the very early phases of learning to row are very easily learned by virtually anybody, any age, even any physical ability. it looks very, very simple, except it's very, very technical. >> narrator: the stroke is deceptively simple: catch, pull, release, feather the oar and slide forward to start again. what matters is being able to do it again and again with a steady rhythm. >> daemen: there's a tremendous thinking involved all the way through the stroke. if it's in a race and you're doing this 240 -- roughly -- times, you're doing this whole thought process over and over and over each stroke, accounting for almost every fraction of the stroke, what you're supposed to be feeling. it's like a constant feedback and you wish you were a computer. being in the single on the water by myself, i'm really my own coach, my own motivator, my own cox. the danger is, of being alone on the water, is that you can slip into making some minor technical errors that seem comfortable but are incorrect . you have to drive yourself. you have to have tremendous perseverance. >> narrator: and whether one rows singly, in pairs, in a 4 or an 8, the goal is the same...find that perfect stroke. >> daemen: it's this incredible feeling of satisfaction that when all of a sudden the boat is moving or slipping along the water at a nice speed. it's a sensory feel of, oh, wow, that feels so good! >> narrator: even beginners can experience that seductive rhythm. a year ago, baltimore public health professional amy kleine was looking for a new sport. she heard about the baltimore rowing club and joined a "learn to row class." >> kleine: i was surprised, actually, at how easy it was to learn. and i've come to find out it is one of the easier sports to learn but it's a very difficult sport to master. >> narrator: the brc is open to anyone who wants to row. tuesday and thursday evenings are for open rowing, the equivalent of a pick-up game. >> press out and in. nice and easy. >> narrator: kleine usually finds a seat on a women's 8. the crew is training for an upcoming race. in early october, a regatta of boats from the area will converge on marley creek at the head of the patapsco and row down a five kilometer course in single file. >> in a head race, you're racing against the clock, you don't have that other boat right next to you. so it becomes really easy to start thinking in your head "there's no other boats around, i'm tired." >> narrator: the coaches work on stamina, technique, mental toughness and rowing together. no other sport calibrates teamwork to such a fine degree as rowing. >> kleine: i've never experienced teamwork like i have in crew. it's literally everything has to be done together at the same time. everybody has to contribute; catching the water together, driving together, coming out together. >> come on, slug it out! 10 out. 9 out. build on. 8s. >> narrator: it's the job of the coxswain to keep the crew together. >> kleine: the coxswain and the crew have an interesting relationship. we do whatever the coxswain says to do. >> coxswain: 10! go crazy! next 10! 10! >> kleine: so we have this really spunky, wonderful 17-year-old coxswain, ashley, who works with us a lot of the time and she's just phenomenal. here she is with these 30, 40-year-old men and women and she just really knows her stuff. i think what makes her great is, number one, she knows what she's doing. number two, she takes charge. number three, she really yells at us, she really motivates us, and i think you need that. >> narrator: practices start after work and go past sundown. the boats run drills, known as pieces, which have specific purposes. >> kleine: it's the hardest sport i've ever done. my heart rate gets higher rowing than doing any other sport, and i'm talking about like 180. it's exhausting. i mean, at the end of a piece, i don't know if i can breathe. my back gets strained, my hands are blistered, sore muscles, burning. >> narrator: for fun, the coach has the women's 8 scrimmage a powerful men's 4. with the pressure on, they sharpen their quest for that elusive perfect stroke. >> kleine: when we, the crew, have a series of good strokes, it's almost what they call the zen of rowing. and sometimes the crew will even cheer because it feels like you've arrived somewhere. you know, you have the balance, you have the hand heights right, you have the timing. all of the little things we work on come together, and it just feels awesome. >> coxswain: whoo! nice! >> narrator: race day at marley creek. it's time for the training to pay off. marc daemen is in the first group to go out. and he finishes in first place in the masters single scull. the women's open 8 is facing very experienced competition. today, ashley pazdalski will cox a boat of senior women while veteran sunil soprey will cox amy's boat. the brc gets off to a good start and quickly overtakes a novice boat. keeping a steady 30 strokes per minute, soprey uses 20 stroke power pieces of maximum effort to chase down a veteran prep school boat. they catch it momentarily. but the chase matches every move and stays ahead. most of the crew have never raced this distance before and pacing becomes an issue. at the finish line, the crew is exhausted but proud to have made it all the way. their true competition was the clock, and their time of 22:57 is something to build on. on shore, amy kleine and her crewmates celebrate their accomplishment. >> good job everybody. >> yeah, good job. >> we did a good job. >> narrator: as they come together for a photo, their spirit recalls a comment by marc daemen; not only do rowers form a community, they form a family. >> narrator: new germany state park manager, michael gregory, is retiring after 30 years of service with state parks. but he's not going anywhere. he's built his family a house overlooking the park and meadow mountain. >> mike gregory: this is an area where i met my wife, where my children were born. they had all of new germany state park as their backyard to begin with. it was always home. >> narrator: new germany state park, named for its early settlers, lies in northeast garrett county. it's surrounded by 54,000 acres of savage river state forest, which protects some of maryland's last official wildlands. >> gregory: in the mountains of western maryland, in this area of the appalachians, there is a scenery, there is a sense of culture that i will continue to cherish for the rest of my life. >> narrator: new germany state park is a gateway to the big mountain country of western maryland, and it's world-class rugged adventure. >> gregory: new germany state park is what i will term a "classic state park." once you have settled in, either to your cabin or to one of our campsites here at new germany, then you can enjoy the day use area, and swimming at the beach. also fishing, hiking trails, and a host of other programs that are offered by our seasonal staff during the summer months. and from there, the park can serve as a base camp for you to be able to enjoy all the other activities that western maryland has to offer, particularly in garrett county, the other state parks, deep creek, herrington manor, swallow falls. then there's also the different recreational industries here, downhill skiing during the winter months. you can enjoy all the different boating activities that the deep creek lake area has to offer. whitewater rafting on the yough river. and just a host of other activities that just really make this a recreational wonderland for people to come and enjoy. >> narrator: the mountains are compelling in all seasons. chris wright & kyle blount from baltimore took on winter camping. >> chris wright: you know, out west, there's yosemite and yellowstone, and it's really nice to have, you know, things exactly like that and things just as beautiful as that right here in maryland's own backyard. >> kyle blount: when you come out here you immediately connect. this is the way that maryland originally looked, and i know that when i have kids, i want them to be able to appreciate this kind of beauty. >> ranger: jenny! >> ranger: i heard on the radio they found a coat over in this section. >> narrator: new germany state park is an ideal setting for the park service's revived ranger school. >> ranger: i have a gentleman here at cabin 11 with a shotgun on the porch. >> narrator: four weeks of intensive training. >> ranger: hmm, where'd you get the "mountain dew?" >> ranger: we're trying to get back to tradition. when i came in the service, almost 18 years ago, we ran a full ranger school and we're reverting to that tradition. >> narrator: robin melton is dean of this year's ranger school. >> ranger melton: they get a lot of scenarios -- what ifs? we like them to be faced with a lot of things before they even hit the field. they will do some terrific team building during this time, and they learn the ability to work with every member of their staff, and using every bit of the resources that are available to them to accomplish their goal of ensuring that the maryland park visitor has a spectacular time when they come to see us. >> it's not a problem me being here, is it? >> ranger: that's going to cause damage to the tree. >> narrator: trainee rachel zimmerman is the daughter of a ranger. >> rachel zimmerman: so, i was always raised to enjoy the outdoors and never wanted to be anywhere else. >> narrator: nakia johnson started out in the park service as an administrative assistant. >> nakia johnson: i went around to all of the state parks and i had never met more people so proud of what they did, and it instilled that in me, and i wanted to be proud, i wanted to be proud of the land. so, that's what made me really want to be a park ranger. >> narrator: andrew vecchio takes the mission of the state parks to heart. >> andrew vecchio: fulfilling that mission is to help ensure that a visitor has a very positive experience when they're in the park while still protecting the resource, learning about their environment, and having some memories to share for a long time. >> narrator: these big forests hold the memory of this mountain land and its history. conserving the forests has been the mission of state parks since the earliest days, when maryland's first state forester, fred besley, launched his massive state-wide forest restoration program in western maryland in the early 1900s. decades of cut and run forest clearing for agriculture and timber had left the mountains devastated. >> fred besley was a student of gifford pinchot, who was the father of forestry here in the united states of america. so besley was part of that select group moving into every state within the union to provide this basis for scientific management of forest resources. >> narrator: ross kimmel, state park historian, maryland park service... >> ross kimmel: right after the state acquired the area around savage river state forest, fred besley offered the position of resident warden to one of his volunteer wardens, matthew martin, who had been a coal miner in allegheny county. matthew martin moved his family to new germany and directed the work of the civilian conservation corps in the mid-30s. >> narrator: the ccc built cabins, pavilions, roads, reclaimed the lake. they built the foundation of this and other state parks. bill martin, son of the first warden, grew up at new germany. >> bill martin: my mother and dad were commonly called mom and pop by some of these ccc boys, especially with the newcomers, first time they'd been away from home. >> narrator: after the ccc era, new germany was developed as the state's first downhill sky destination. locals improvised to provide food and lodging and transportation around the farm slopes. >> martin: closest hotel would have been in frostburg, so these people arrived here in the middle of the night, no place to go, so the local farmers would take them in. we had an old tool shack that we used for our hamburger joint. i walked around a lot of times leaning to the side, i had so many dimes in my pocket i didn't know what to do with. >> narrator: eventually, downhill skiing moved on to private resorts, but new germany state park still has miles of cross-country ski trails, and much in the mountains remains as it was in the beginning. >> martin: i often say that the only thing that has actually changed much at new germany: the trees have gotten taller. in fact, i planted some of these trees. >> narrator: nita settina, superintendent, maryland park service... >> nita settina: people that work for parks, it is not a job, it is their life, it is the