Dnr

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources has agreed to demolish an old railroad station on Trego Road, county officials announced Tuesday. The Washington County Commissioners voted 4-0 to enter a Memorandum of Understanding with DNR for the demolition. The dilapidated building, which sits close to a public road, has been deemed unsafe. When no one acknowledged ownership, the county began looking into having the building demolished. Original cost estimates were in the $26,000 range.

He has captured bank robbers, helped put a kidnapper behind bars and escorted a President of the United States across Washington County. So when it came time for Richard W. Poffenberger Sr. to retire, he wasn't sure a life of leisure would suit him. Not after spending 37 years as a Maryland State Trooper. So he did what came naturally. He returned to law enforcement. Poffenberger is a volunteer with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR). On any given day - or night - he can be found patrolling the Potomac River or making his way through dark forests at 2 a.m. to catch poachers.

DNR warns river users Maryland Department of Natural Resources has announced that boating and other recreational uses of the Upper Potomac River should be avoided through Thursday. Recent rainfall has made river levels on the main stem of the Potomac River from Paw Paw, Md. to Little Falls, Md., hazardous. Hazardous stages are those levels which, because of hypothermia, wave action, high velocity or treacherous currents, non-white water vessels, tubers, swimmers, or people standing in the water fishing could be confronted with life threatening conditions.

Boating and other recreational uses of the upper Potomac River and adjacent streams and creeks should be avoided at this time, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources announced Saturday. Due to recent precipitation, river levels are hazardous for recreational use on the Potomac River from Cumberland, Md., downstream to Little Falls and on the Monocacy River at Frederick, Md., the DNR reported. The advisory is in effect until Tuesday and will be updated at that time if necessary.

DNR proposes bear season MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Morgan County hunters could have an extended antlerless deer season next year and be permitted to hunt black bear if proposed hunting regulations are met favorably. The state Division of Natural Resources announced the proposed changes at a public meeting Wednesday night in Martinsburg, where about 170 sportsmen gathered to offer suggestions for next year's hunting and fishing regulations. The possible changes: Morgan County could open bow hunting for black bear from Oct. 17 to Nov. 23. Morgan County could allow a nine-day antlerless season from Nov. 23 to Nov. 25 on private property and the normal hunting season of Dec. 7 to Dec. 12. Berkeley and Jefferson counties could retain the six-day hunting season in December, but allow out-of-state hunters, too. Some voiced opposition to allowing nonresidents hunt in the Panhandle, fearful it will limit their supply.

Maryland Department of Natural Resources officials will decide today whether a burning ban will remain in effect across the state or be lifted in some counties. The burning ban, which went into effect Nov. 26, prohibits open burning near wooded areas and in state parks and other public woodlands. Rain fell across most of the state over the past two days, but in varying amounts, according to John Surrick, DNR public communications officer. Surrick said Eric Schwaab, of DNR's forest and wildlife division, Forester Alan Zentz and others will make the decision.

As regional fire manager for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Ric Lillard is used to dealing with the occasional fire that crops up in the four western counties. But after two weeks battling the Florida brush fires, the Clear Spring resident said he was amazed at the devastation of such widespread fires. Dillard and 18 other DNR employees comprised a task force that left Maryland June 23 for Volusia County, Fla. They got back two days ago. "I was the leader of a strike team ... seven people, four brush engines and three bulldozers from Maryland," Dillard said.

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources is asking the public to avoid boating and other recreational activities in the Upper Potomac River. Recent precipitation has caused the river and adjacent streams to rise to hazardous levels, the department said in a news release Saturday. The advisory is in effect through at least Monday. The latest conditions are available by calling 703-260-0305.

andrews@herald-mail.com The Maryland Department of Natural Resources will not charge a couple that harbored a tame deer and will not try to find the deer, which was released to the wild, a department spokeswoman said. "They can only be charged if the deer is in their possession," spokeswoman Heather Lynch said Friday. She said that speculation that the DNR still might try to find the deer and test it is not true. "Our officers have other things to do," she said.

shappell@herald-mail.com A Maryland Department of Natural Resources representative said a Hagerstown-area man will not be charged for his role in harboring and then moving a deer from his Antietam Drive home. Bob Beyer said DNR believed it was important to test the deer, named Bucky by the couple that was trying to find it a permanent home, for multiple diseases including one he called the "kissing cousin" of mad cow disease. During a Thursday press conference in the parking lot of Godlove's Liquors, just outside Hagerstown, Beyer said Kevin Hall would not face criminal charges for temporarily housing the deer.

Janet McKegg was born in 1954 in Washington County General Hospital and spent the first 18 years of her life in Pleasant Valley, about 10 miles south of Boonsboro. She loved nature and its creatures from her earliest years, and also loved horses from the first time she saw one, getting astride a draft horse before she was 2. She attended the University of Maryland at College Park, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in wildlife biology. She began her 28-year career with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources as a ticket taker at Cunningham Falls State Park and progressed from that to becoming the DNR's first woman wildlife biologist.

Maryland's Department of Natural Resources is scaling back proposed increases in boat-registration fees. Department officials said the changes were made after meeting with boaters and others who would be affected. Boat registration currently costs $24 every two years. The DNR will now propose fees ranging from $25 for boats under 16 feet up to $300 for boats more than 65 feet long, officials said. A bill before state lawmakers originally called for fees ranging from $50 to $700.

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources will hold a public meeting in Hagerstown to gather public input on proposed hunting and trapping regulations for resident game species and select migratory game birds for 2012-13 and 2013-14. The meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, March 13, at 7 p.m. at South Hagerstown High School at 1101 S. Potomac St. The DNR's Wildlife and Heritage Service re-evaluates hunting and trapping regulations every two years, according to the DNR's website.

He has captured bank robbers, helped put a kidnapper behind bars and escorted a President of the United States across Washington County. So when it came time for Richard W. Poffenberger Sr. to retire, he wasn't sure a life of leisure would suit him. Not after spending 37 years as a Maryland State Trooper. So he did what came naturally. He returned to law enforcement. Poffenberger is a volunteer with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR). On any given day - or night - he can be found patrolling the Potomac River or making his way through dark forests at 2 a.m. to catch poachers.

Each year, about six million tree seedlings are grown at the John S. Ayton State Tree Nursery near the town of Preston in Caroline County, Md. About 47 different conifer, hardwood and shrub species, mostly native to Maryland, are grown at the nursery each year. Many of these seedlings are planted along streams as part of Maryland's Stream ReLeaf buffer planting program, and will help improve water quality in the Chesapeake Bay. If you have one or more Black Walnut trees in your yard, and do not know what to do with all the walnuts that drop each fall, the Maryland DNR-Forest Service could use your help in collecting black walnuts.

CLEAR SPRING - When Jeff White applied for a job with Maryland's Natural Resources Police after college, it was his backup plan. He was hoping to be hired as a state biologist. So when he got the job with the police agency, he figured he'd keep it until he could transfer to a biologist job. "I fell right in love with the job. I've been at it ever since," said White, whose first position was with the marine division in Ocean City, Md. White, 55, of Clear Spring, was one of four Clear Spring-area residents who recently were honored for their work with the police agency.

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources has agreed to demolish an old railroad station on Trego Road, county officials announced Tuesday. The Washington County Commissioners voted 4-0 to enter a Memorandum of Understanding with DNR for the demolition. The dilapidated building, which sits close to a public road, has been deemed unsafe. When no one acknowledged ownership, the county began looking into having the building demolished. Original cost estimates were in the $26,000 range.

HAGERSTOWN -- Authorities spent much of Wednesday tracking a young black bear that was sighted Wednesday morning near North Hagerstown High School. There also were reports of the bear being seen in other neighborhoods in the city's North End. Kelly Bell said her husband, John, saw the bear at about 6:45 a.m. Wednesday outside their home at 801 Forest Drive. "He ate the heck out of my bird feeders," she said. When he spotted the bear, John Bell went back inside to call 911. Kelly Bell said she went upstairs and out to her four-tier deck off the back of their house.

HANCOCK -- The Sideling Hill animals have arrived in Hancock. Maryland Department of Natural Resources staff on Monday delivered a collection of about 15 taxidermy specimens that had been part of the Sideling Hill Exhibit Center to their new home at a museum on Hancock's Main Street, Hancock marketing director T.R. Weaver said. The collection caused a stir last month when Town of Hancock staff found it missing from the closed exhibit center. They later learned that DNR staff took the specimens from the unheated building for the winter and had been displaying them elsewhere.

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. -- A Jefferson County man who was killed in a hunting accident Saturday in Hampshire County had hunted for years on the property owned by the man who fired the fatal gunshot, the victim's brother said Monday night. Andy Bennett, the brother of Herald Hart Bennett of Charles Town, said he was informed of his brother's death Saturday while at a West Virginia University football game in Morgantown, W.Va. His mother called to tell him, Andy Bennett said. "She said, 'Hart's dead,'" Bennett said Monday.