MD DNR Fisheries Service Feature Story
The profound
look on the teenagers face caught my attention immediately as another group
of Scouts entered the exhibit. Although I would see several thousand faces a
day entering the exhibit, the level of energy in the air, makes it impossible
to be complacent. I greeted the group of Idaho Scouts, but my attention was
focused on this one particular young man. He stood in front of the touch tank
with his jaw hanging. "I never thought I would see a live horseshoe crab in
my lifetime". As his story unfolded, I was to find out he was a part time paleontologist
and had interned at a State Museum, working on Horseshoe Crab fossils. A half
hour later his friends were finally able to extricate him from the Fisheries
Service exhibit to continue their travels on the Conservation Trail. In his
hands he carried a dried specimen of a horseshoe crab as if it were a priceless
treasure. To him it was, and I'm sure it made it's way back to Idaho.
This kind
of story was common and unfolded throughout the days of a very uncommon event;
the fifteenth National Boy Scout Jamboree held at Fort A.P. Hill near Fredericksburg
Virginia. I am involved with Outreach and education for the Fisheries Service.
I often do exhibits at Sportsman's shows and other such events; but the National
Boy Scout Jamboree is the granddaddy of them all. Held every four years, it
is a personal high water mark for teaching fisheries Conservation and stewardship
to an eager audience.
This would
be our second Jamboree as exhibitors. In 1997 our exhibit promoted the same
theme with live fish and other aquatic species on display. Additionally there
was a major focus on Catch and Release ethics. Many a scout returned home with
new knowledge on Catch and Release and a personally handcrafted fish dehooker.
The Maryland Fisheries Service centers it's Jamboree focus at a place aptly
named, the Conservation Trail. The 
Conservation
Trail has twenty- one state and federal agencies exhibiting on key environmental
issues. These exhibits ranged from Water Conservation to other resource conservation
issues, with all having a little fun thrown in.
As one of
the premier events for individual Scouts at the Jamboree it was a very busy
area. Each Scout who completed at least ten of the activities offered in the
conservation area in the eight days of operation, could earn the Conservation
Area patch. Getting this patch or any other Jamboree Souvenir was a real priority
for attending Scouts.
Approximately
40, 000 scouts and leaders will camp for ten days living the ideals of Scouting
with fellow Scouts for what will be a once in a life time experience. The Scouts
who attend the National Jamboree are usually fourteen to seventeen years old
and could be considered at the top of their class in regards to their peers.
They represent what's best in America for their generation. In addition to the
Scouts who camp at the Jamboree, thousands of Scouts and families arrive from
surrounding states to visit and experience the Jamboree as day visitors.
The planning
for the Jamboree begins in earnest two years before the event and the layers
of structure and the enormous undertaking is staggering. Approximately two months
before the event, tent cites of large army tents and huge event tents begin
to appear; fueling the sense that something great is about to occur.
The many activities
at the Jamboree are basically divided into two programs. The four action centers
all offer activities such as air-rifle shooting, archery, bikathalon, buckskin
games (muzzle loading rifles, bullwhips, tomahawk and knife throwing), Confidence
course, motocross, pioneering, Rappelling towers and trapshooting. The Outback
areas include the Conservation Trail, Fishhook Lake, Aquatics (scuba diving,
snorkeling, canoes, kayaks, rowing), the Arts and Science Expo, Brownsea Island,
Stage Shows, National exhibits, the Army experience and the Merit Badge mid-way
where Scouts could earn merit badges in all fields of study. The programs at
each one of these activities were inspiring. A lot of planning and support from
industry partnerships and an army of trained staff made it work.
One Outback
activity area of particular interest to the author was Fish Hook Lake. Sponsored
by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. and an army of 
volunteers,
an opportunity to fish for more than twenty thousand stocked fish. Scouts could
receive instruction, select spinning or fly-casting outfits, catch a fish, and
wind up with a meal all in one stop. Volunteers were present to clean and prepare
the scouts catch or the scouts could do it themselves. It was a sight to see
novices catching their first fish and others working on the fishing merit badge
or just having fun fishing.
Fly fishing
was well represented with the introduction of a new B.S.A. (Boy Scouts of America)
fly fishing merit badge and an official B.S.A. five weight and fly tying kit
sponsored by manufacturers. There was even a fly tying classroom where boys
could learn to tie a fly to take home.
The Fisheries
Service partnered with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation to present an exhibit titled
"Saving the Bay Together". The focus was on understanding the issues of non-point
source pollution, water conservation, fisheries conservation and stewardship.
Add a "hands on" experience with two touch tanks fill of bay creatures, a "fun
house" type storm drain adventure and we had a recipe for learning and fun.
A week before
the Scouts arrive things really start to hop. The large tanks of saltwater that
will house the animals that will provide the "hands on" experience are the first
to go up. Stan Tomaszewski and his crew from the Piney Point Oyster Hatchery
can always be counted on for this arduous task. The aquatic animals arrive,
the displays go up and it really starts to look like something. The energy and
excitement builds each day as opening day approaches.
Heather
Hetzeck and Becky Fetters represented the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Their energy,
and fresh ideas coupled with supportive resources really made the exhibit come
together. When they arrived with their storm drain fun house on a big trailer
and set it up we knew we where almost there. The day before the Scouts were
to arrive it was complete. Minor adjustments where made, we where ready to go.
The next morning
as the gray of morning began to appear a very special and electric thing began
to occur. The Scouts began to arrive. Many who have traveled from great distances
had been visiting the Nations Capital for the last few days. Others clogged
all the area airports, and could be seen everywhere in the D.C. area. Today
within four to six hours they all arrived by charter buses, followed by tractor-trailer
trucks loaded with camping gear. There was activity everywhere as they hurriedly
set up their camps, and gateways soon becoming tent cities.
The Jamboree
starts off with a big opening ceremony followed by thunderous cannon fire signaling
the start of things. The Scouts are scheduled to visit activity areas usually
by region, so it's always a treat to see what region of the United States or
foreign country would be visiting us on any given day.
The Conservation
Trail was buzzing with activity as exhibitors made last minute adjustments and
daily staff began to arrive from offices and agencies far and wide. Our volunteer
staff came from many different divisions within DNR, anyone who answered the
email call for help, and had a yearning for adventure. The DNR people who came
to help each day all have their own stories of adventures with military police,
detours caused by parade events or just getting overwhelmed with the immense
size of the event. Gisela Peace who works for fisheries at the Tawes building
gets the award for one of the more enduring stories. It all started with check
in at the main gate to see if this actually was the Fort A.P. Hill she was looking
for. Gisela was directed into the wrong parking area and wound up hiking several
miles in the summer heat, to reach our area. Gisela had many interesting stories
of Scouts and leaders she met in route and enjoyed her travels for what they
were.
Our staff
was in place; all was ready as the first groups of Scouts began to arrive. Within
a few hours we were operation at full capacity with a line waiting to enter.
The Scouts or day visitors first learned about watersheds and then were engaged
in a discussion about runoff and things they might have seen floating in a stream
or washed down a storm drain. Now it was time to actually enter a storm drain,
down into a dark maze of passages complete with sounds and debris. The adventurers
would exit down a ramp, wide eyed and grinning from ear to ear. As they exited
and gathered themselves together they entered the large tent where they could
experience some aspects of the Chesapeake Bay.
The
big draw in this area of the exhibit was the touch tanks. An eight-foot tank
filled with friendly Diamond-Back Terrapins and a slightly smaller tank containing
Horseshoe crabs and Blue crabs greeted those who entered. All visitors enjoyed
the hands of learning experience. Cameras clicked and smiles abounded, eight
hours a day for eight days.
Anyone who
attends a gathering like this soon realizes that because this is a once in a
lifetime experience for these boys, souvenirs are of major importance. Scout
patch trading and any other kind of memento trading are widespread and becomes
a refined art. Rumors and small talk are constant about the value of souvenir
items or patches on ebay.
Our group
did not have the budget of the larger exhibiting agencies that where giving
out hatpins or other items, as the Scouts exited their exhibits. What we did
have though was a spirit of for fun.
While setting
up exhibits during the Sportsman show season, I was able to do a bit of "dumpster
diving" outside the show arenas. I managed to accumulate about fifty pounds
of plastic crayfish and worms commonly used for largemouth bass fishing. Using
a garment t-bar tagging gun, we attached the crayfish and worms to the Scouts
hats. It did not take but a day before they began to reach folklore status.
The word spread throughout the Jamboree of phenomena called the "Clan of the
Crawdad". We were overwhelmed with Scouts and adult leaders coming to our exhibit
looking for the silly crayfish hat ornaments.
Some groups
went so far as to develop a song and by-laws, all in the spirit of silly fun.
At the close of the Jamboree we had given out close to fifteen thousand crawdads
and worms. This certainly gave credence to that old saying, "one mans trash
is another's treasure".
The days seemed
to drift along; each day was filled with new crowds of visitors from far and
wide. There were quite a large number of Boy Scout troops and families from
Maryland and it was easy to see they took great pride in our being there. Each
day a new batch of volunteers from the Annapolis office would arrive, and it
was refreshing to see them caught up in the excitement the Jamboree generates.
There were
flyovers of jets and every manner of airplane or helicopter, sky diving teams,
celebrities and arena shows there always seemed to be something going on.
The big closing
arena show was the most spectacular of all. Due to a whopper of a rainstorm
it was postponed for a day and the scouts missed seeing 
president
Bush. He did send a video address, which was quite inspiring, and the entertainment
was great. The fireworks spectacular was just that. They started off with being
choreographed to Louis Armstrong, god bless America etc, built up to twelve
rounds every second for three and a half minutes and finished off with over
two thousand five hundred rounds for the finale. Only the famous Zambelli family
could pull something like that off. It left everyone speechless.
I was sleeping
on my cot when I awoke to an uneasy feeling of a distant low vibration and a
rumbling that seemed to just hang in the air. It was a sound that could be felt;
the ground was shaking. A drowsy glance at the clock nearby revealed that it
was four am. For a moment I imagined being a Plains Indian waking in his teepee
to a half million buffalo hooves as the migrations approached. In this case
though it was not pounding buffalo hooves, it was nine hundred and twenty charter
buses and an equal number of tractor-trailer trucks. It was time for the Scouts
to move out. I decided to start to do the same, since sleep was out of the question
as the buses and trucks now roared by at close range headed to nearby sub-camps.
In the pre-dawn
darkness I set about packing up and changing a flat tire on the tank truck.
Morning light began to filter through the trees as a strange quiet settled over
the area. The buses and trucks were gone and so were the boys. This added to
the melancholy atmosphere of realizing the Jamboree was over. Stan and his crew
arrived from piney point to pick up their equipment, and as they left so did
I. The Jamboree radio station was still broadcasting till noon and as I approached
the Potomac River, the signal began to fade. Our memories of the Jamboree will
not fade and certainly the Scouts and adults will not forget their experience
at "Saving the Bay Together".