♪♪ -Welcome to Windows to the Wild, I'm Willem Lange.

Today we're in Exeter New Hampshire with folks ready to celebrate the annual alewife migration.

[water churns] Then you'll go in search of treasure, with a family of rockhounds.

But first, Greg Kretschmar is known around New England as the popular radio host of Greg & The Morning Buzz.

But this story isn't about his radio career.

It's about his photography, and what inspires him to get outdoors and capture nature's beauty in a single frame.

♪♪ -Watching that sun crest over the horizon.

The moment that you see that first little sliver of light, to me is, so special.

♪♪ [birds singing] It's the one time of the day when you can actually watch, light defeat darkness.

♪♪ [waves crashing] It's an important hopeful message to see the sun coming out from behind something.

Something trying to hide light, but light finds its way around it.

That to me, is like the coolest notion, in any photograph that you could see.

You know?

When I go out and I take an image, I want to show people and share with people what I saw, but I also want to look at it myself and remember that moment and remember what I felt.

♪♪ This started as a hobby.

Is it a hobby anymore?

It's become a need.

And thank God my wife is as awesome as she is and she understands when I say, I’m gonna, I really feel like I, I want to take a couple of days up in Acadia or the White Mountains, and she knows that it's, it's become something that really is restorative for me, especially when things get really tense or crazy at work.

And I just need a break.

And that right there is a beautiful sound.

[chuckles] I don't want to think about how I would feel if I couldn't do it, because I know I’d get antsy if I can’t, you know?

So-- Alright, we got time-- We want you to boil your weekend down to three things.

You had me at mini donkeys.

You had me at-- I'm giving you a nine.

Not bad, not bad, a little Rate Your Weekend there.

Alright we-- There have been realizations that I've had that have been noticed by people I'm close to before me.

And I had a friend of mine say, did you ever think that you spent most of your life in a medium that is all about sound and noise, and yet you find peace, in something without it?

And I was like, that's pretty sharp.

[chuckles] But he's right.

The silence is now what I crave.

Look, I still love the job.

I still love that part of me.

But it's fueled by, or balanced by the quiet that I seek when I'm doing this, you know?

Which is why I often do it alone.

I love having somebody with me.

I love to talk.

I love to, you know, be with friends and things, but I also love, sitting in a place like this and not hearing anything.

♪♪ But the moments when you can be out in a place in the middle of nowhere, or maybe in a place that's very populated, except at 5 a.m.

when it's not and it's quiet, ♪♪ the best remedy in the world really is for me.

♪♪ This right here is Portsmouth.

Prescott Park.

Right?

And what's great about-- What I love about images like this is this is a place people go to all the time.

People are always walking through it.

You had at 4:00 in the morning before the sun came up on this winter morning, that snow was crunchy.

And it was a-- It crunched underneath my feet and the lights just-- And the way the snow stuck to the trees.

It's like I sat here going, Why am I the only one here to see this?

And that's one of the things that is a reward of going out, right?

Making the effort to go out and look ♪♪ is, is, is what you do for the reward, of experiencing the moment.

The photo is the bonus, but standing there and look at that and going, man, this is beautiful.

♪♪ This is my favorite picture that I've ever taken because a month before it was taken, my daughter was in the intensive care unit at Boston Children's Hospital after having a brain event.

It was-- It was 2008.

My daughter was 15 and, she complained of a really bad headache, you know?

So we took her to the emergency room, test came back that something was wrong, and they found that a blood vessel had burst in her brain.

And at first when they told us that they thought there was a tumor as well, and, we went from having a headache to watching her get strapped into a gurney to be taken to Boston Children's.

♪♪ The doctors told us that, you know, that she may not walk again, talk again, go to school.

She may not survive.

♪♪ I've always said it’s, you know the conversation no parent ever want to have or a club no parent wants to be a part of, but-- So anyway, she was there for a couple of weeks and in essentially it blew itself out.

And so we got through that.

But, going through that kind of trauma where you didn't know whether the child was going to make it, whether she wasn't.

♪♪ Everything changed.

♪♪ But from the worst part of our lives came the best lessons and stop taking things for granted and, started paying attention to the things that I missed.

Beautiful things, you know, things that could bring you calm and joy and peace.

♪♪ And the cool thing about that is, from the camera, I got the opportunity to breathe, which is the best advice I ever got from a friend when we were going through that at the hospital with my daughter, ♪♪ it means two things to me.

Breathing in the biological necessary sense, but also breathing in what's around you, you know, kind of emotionally.

And once I started thinking about that and doing that when I was out in a place like this or along the beach or, along, you know the, in the mountains or whatever, ♪♪ this whole world opens up to you ♪♪ that you never knew before.

There’s a bald eagle.

♪♪ I don’t know if you can see it.

♪♪ It’s just-- ♪♪ It’s crazy.

♪♪ See what I mean?

♪♪ Doesn’t get any better than that man.

♪♪ It just doesn’t.

The whole thing is a gift.

The whole-- What I went through and how I got to where I am today has been a huge gift, because it's made me better.

in everything.

♪♪ One of the great rewards that I've gotten from this journey, that with the camera, is opening people's eyes to what's out there, places that they can go and see that don't cost anything, and they don't need a fancy camera-- People are like, well, I don't have a good camera.

You don't need-- You don't even need a camera.

Go out-- Find a place along the ocean.

Sit on the rocks for 20 minutes and tell me that you don't feel better just listening to the waves and watching the ocean.

Tell me that sitting, you know, on a lakeside, watching a sunset or something.

Just take those moments in, and find them.

You get rewarded for looking, and you don't need to be a photographer, or you don't need to be any good at that.

You don't even need to have a camera.

If you-- If you have a lot going on in life and everybody does, find your peace in whatever it is, and protect it.

I have a sweatshirt that says protect your peace on it, and it's probably the greatest slogan ever, because the world's going to try and take it away from you and make it more difficult for you to have that.

You're going to have obligations.

You're going to have all these things that you have to do, family things, everything.

But don't feel bad, About creating a space for you, to do what, ♪♪ lets you breathe, you know?

Don't feel bad about that.

Protect your peace.

My favorite slogan.

[waves crashing] That's what the day was forecasted to be right there.

Just grey skies and rain.

But it came out anyway, and, Mother Nature painted the sky for me.

And you can't find a better artist than that.

[waves crashing] Alewives are members of the herring family.

They spend most of their lives in the ocean, but in the spring they migrate up coastal rivers where they spawn.

The population of alewives has declined significantly since the 1950s, but in the coastal town of Exeter, New Hampshire, people got together to help reverse that trend.

♪♪ As the calls of seagulls ornament the quiet morning skies of Exeter, New Hampshire, ♪♪ [water churns] beneath the current of the Squamscott river, something a little more chaotic, and at that, awe-inspiring.

♪♪ ♪♪ [water churns] Thousands of alewives and blueback herring, are on their way to work.

♪♪ [water churns] By afternoon, these glimmering fish, encounter a now familiar pair of Wellington's.

[water churns] -My name is Bob Glowacky and I'm the media communications coordinator for the town of Exeter.

My favorite time of year is the alewife run.

I get all excited.

My employees are like, what's Bob-- You know, what's Bob doing?

-Every May, Bob draws on his array of cameras, to document the journey for the Exeter public.

But as others who have a professional interest in this migration will attest, it's a transient event, requiring those with cameras and monitoring charts alike to make the most of the season.

-So a lot of the work that we do at the Marine Division in the springtime is really focused around anadromous fish and fish ladders so herring being one of the amazing anadromous fish that return to the seacoast every year from the ocean.

It's a seven days a week, eight hours a day job this time of year.

So that's a lot of what we do.

And they're amazing fish.

They're 10 to 12 inches long, silvery fish.

They come back through Natal homing to the river they were born in.

They’re gonna come back from age three on, spawn, and then stay in the river for a couple of weeks, and then they go back out to the ocean, spend the rest of the year there and repeat the process until they end their life.

-Kevin Sullivan has worked as a marine biologist for New Hampshire Fish and Game for over 25 years, now responsible for overseeing the department's fish monitoring efforts, Kevin was key in making the scientific case for the removal of the Great Dam a decade ago.

-The Great Dam was the head of tide Dam on the Exeter River, where the Exeter and Squamscott rivers meet, and that was one of the dams that we built you know, in the textile boom and that these towns are founded on.

And that dam was an impediment to river herring.

It's removing those dams that have given them the opportunity to come back to the levels they were at.

And that's happened here in Exeter, so.

-In 1968, the department added a fish ladder, to combat the decline in the number of anadromous fish crossing into the inland Exeter River, from the tidal Squamscott River.

The effort however, but ultimately proved to be a half measure.

[water bubbles] -They're just a Band-Aid on a problem, and it doesn't allow anywhere near the number of fish that want to get back up into the river to spawn to get there.

Removal of the Great Dam was the perfect example of that.

And we've seen that run that we're getting 6 to 7000 fish a year in the fish ladder.

The estimate for, last season was almost 300,000 fish that passed through the Exeter so, I mean that's a huge benefit to the species.

[water churns] -But the removal of the Great Dam didn't just bring the fish back.

It also renewed a sense of interest in river herring among the Exeter public, something that Bob Glowacky was at the center of.

When I got here in 2016, the dam had just been removed, and no one was really doing any video stories on the local TV channel about the annual river herring run.

I hadn't really heard what is the run?

What are herring?

So we just started doing little videos and we also made a documentary about the dam removal and it just got so interesting.

So now every year we set up an underwater live streaming alewife camera so residents can watch the run from their couches.

[water churns] I think what's really unique about the river herring migration is that it happens in a downtown area.

And it's the best place to see it.

It's quite unexpected when you think of migrations, you're thinking of the plains of Africa or, you know, birds migrating from north to south and vice versa.

But you don't necessarily think of a quaint New England built up town.

-The extraordinary setting of the migration, is one of the many reasons community engagement is so strong, and in Exeter, there's no shortage of hands on learning opportunities.

-We have fish here in the thousands and thousands that are returning to this river, and it's amazing to net some fish up, have them pick them up and understand that this fish is doing something very incredible.

And just seeing the awe on somebody's face to explain that process to them and have them look at that little fish and say, wow, this thing did this it's, it's just amazing.

-Well we have our annual, alewife festival here in Exeter.

We've had that for many years and people love to see the fish.

So they see us dumping them out in nets every year.

But that hand-on experience, they love it.

I will say sometimes the reaction is they jump because the fish doesn't want to be held so, and it's slimy but they love it.

-I think when people see the fish for the first time, first I want them to think, wow, that's just really cool.

On a very basic level, it's just so cool that there's a wonder, such as a fish migration happening in town.

On a deeper level, you know the fish means a lot to Exeter.

It's on the town seal, it's on my shirt in our Exeter TV logo.

So it's all in its early days, some reason that the fish was important whether it's its persistence, perseverance its resilience.

And so you know, on a metaphorical level, when you look at these fish, hopefully you're inspired to keep going because they live out the ocean and every year they come back and swim up against the odds, against the current towards their goals of respawning upriver.

-Something grabbed hold of him as he was trying to migrate, he got away, and, [chuckles] he's still trying to swim upstream regardless.

I'm gonna throw him back though actually.

I feel bad.

-I should have asked this during the presentation but, in my head they were like, -Yeah, these guys are, this big?

-These are pretty big.

-A foot?

-The prospect of witnessing this migratory population’s relentless spirit close up is what brings recent college graduates Cat St.

Hilaire, and Garrett Carolan to the Great Bridge every day.

They're among the many volunteers helping New Hampshire Fish and Game track the numbers of fish by conducting ten minute visual time counts.

-I think it's pretty inspiring to see them, especially them moving as a group.

It's fascinating to see them like kind of sway together as they're trying to fight their way up stream.

It's also nice to watch them because you notice they don't really make a lot of progress really quickly you’ll kind of count the same fish in a row, but they're still going.

-Everybody wants to help, and I think the kind of people that volunteer the most are those that are interested in restoring nature.

-We see people of all ages, from all backgrounds.

-And those people, I think they're just interested in herring, especially like because it is such a central focus of Exeter, there's a lot more zeroes than above zeros when you're doing these counts but I think when you're there on the day when there's, you know, a thousand fish going by in ten minutes, that's amazing so, and I think it's that passion that people want to do that.

-There's another little group of eight.

It’s just an interest in, why life in general and when I was younger, I saw the sort of dam they had here that impeded to the fish population.

So it's kind of fun to count it now that the dam is gone, because it makes it so much easier with the sort of shallower river.

-It's nice to be able to contribute to managing native species in such an easy way.

It's such a quick and simple thing you can do, and you can add it to your routines, so it's not too much out of the way.

And then it's a huge help to native biologists to make sure that a keystone species is well monitored.

I think I saw an osprey?

-Yes.

-Okay-- -There was at least one osprey-- -Theres-- It’s around here somewhere.

[chuckling] -They're crucial to the whole ecosystem, you know, in the rivers and the ocean.

So they have a lot of benefits.

They feed the predatory fish that people want to catch to get all the excitement out of, people do collect them for lobster bait they’re the bottom of the food chain, right?

And that's what you need.

It's that productivity to move up.

And we need big numbers of river herring to support big numbers of bluefish, big numbers of striped bass, tuna eat them right?

So, you know, they're very important.

They may not look it, they’re 10 to 12 inches but they're making a huge impact.

-Well, not long ago the future seemed grim.

The changes made in Exeter and those yet to come across the state of New Hampshire are fusing a sense of optimism in the discussions about our anadromous fish populations.

-Some of the stuff that we've done in New Hampshire to fight for dam removals and improve the passage efficiency of our fish ladders, has made a big impact.

And our state totals last year, I believe were just over half a million which that's the highest returning estimate that we've had in New Hampshire since our monitoring started or has recorded in the early 70s so I think it's potential if we keep working at it, it's going to get a lot better.

-Things are always improving.

We're off to a great start.

We're already seeing great numbers, but there's still more work to be done and more to be gained.

-For Bob, that means continuing to share this important story with the public every year, helping ensure that these determined little fish get the support they need and deserve.

-I was a kid who grew up trouble with reading and, learning for me, I watched PBS I watched Liberty's kids to learn about history.

I watched documentaries on PBS nature, and all of those types of shows opened up the world to me, whether it was the past, the present, or the great outdoors.

And so I wanted to get into video production and filmmaking to try to do that for other people.

It's great to just be able to kind of use the skills that I've gained over my education and experience and give back to the community by telling these unique stories.

[water churns] -Some stories are worth revisiting.

Several years ago we met up with a family near Conway, New Hampshire.

Steve, Stacy and Nash spent a lot of time outside together.

They dig, hammer, and occasionally they’ve-- They discovered treasure.

♪♪ I'm going to take a little hike today with some people who share an interest of mine: Rocks.

Steve and Stacy spend a lot of time in the woods with Steve’s son Nash, looking for little treasures that, others of us might just pass by.

Now, what are we going to be looking for?

-Well, there's a plethora of minerals out here as you know, topaz, smoky quartz, amazonite, microcline crystals, and the odds of you finding something beautiful out here are pretty good-- [Willem cheers] -We might, so we’re gonna dig a little bit for, for minerals-- -Yeah, we can try yeah-- -Very far in?

-0.9 miles.

-I may be able to make it.

-I think you can -If not just, plant me with the minerals.

[laughing] Steven and Stacy are meeting us in the White Mountain National Forest.

The Moat Mountain Mineral Trailhead, is a short drive from Conway, New Hampshire.

The bedrock of the White Mountains is both igneous and metamorphic, ideal for the formation of crystals.

Oh and who’s going with us, who’s this guy?

-And this is my little son Nash.

He is nine years old.

He's also interested in rocks minerals too.

-Ah ha!

-He’s-- He has autism, and ADHD, but he does alright.

-Good.

I brought him up one of my pet rocks.

-Yes.

-I'm getting rid of mine and, this is the perfect one for him.

-Excellent.

Anxious to see it.

-Okay, let's do it.

♪♪ Moat Mountains a popular site with mineral hunters.

It's one of Steven and Stacy's favorite places to dig.

Here we are in the middle of, your favorite spot right?

-Right.

Moat Mountain.

-Why would this of all places be your favorite?

It’s just old-- It’s grown over meadows is all it is-- -It is, the granite, that used to be up on the ledge up afar is, all drizzled down here and is full of lovely minerals that can be found by anyone.

Quartz crystals, fluorite, topaz, microcline crystals.

A plethora of minerals.

A lot of them are minerals which are hard to find until you get home.

-Yeah?

-So a lot of times you find yourself bringing home rocks you really don’t know what they are until you get them home.

[both laugh] And we do have a nice considerable pile of rocks out behind the house that, shouldn't have came home, but we try to bring them back too.

♪♪ Steven and Stacy came well equipped.

They're ready to dig, and scrape, and break.

[pick clanks] ♪♪ -I just found this little one.

Finding something new, it's really exciting.

People do it different ways.

Steve likes to break rocks.

I'll look for float, which will be minerals on the surface you'll just see here and there, just try to follow the trail and see where they originate from.

-Now you’re interested in the same thing right?

Now what are the odds of that?

-I don't know.

-Now did you find each other because of crystals or did you find each other-- -We met first, but we both love the outdoors.

-Ah, okay.

-And someone that can keep up with you.

Sometimes he keeps up with me, and sometimes I have to keep up with him.

[chuckling] -We’re a team though.

-And you have a-- You have another member of the party?

-Yes.

You want to help dad?

Get in here!

♪♪ Help me find a crystal.

♪♪ -While Stacy and Steve search for some of Moat Mountain’s offerings, Nash is, just up the hill, making discoveries of his own.

♪♪ -Look!

♪♪ It’s a-- It’s a friend!

-Oh it is!

-Right down there!

♪♪ -Nash lives with autism.

It's a broad range of conditions, characterized by challenges with social skills, communication, and repetitive behaviors.

When Steven and Stacy get outdoors, Nash is usually with them.

-I think he found a patch of worms today a couple beetles, couple shiny rocks.

[unintelligible] Some mushrooms.

♪♪ -But you do keep an eye on him?

-Yes.

-You got him?

Okay.

And he keeps an eye on us.

♪♪ When we first took him here he didn't really want to occupy himself.

He would just be like, okay, time to go.

But now as-- The more we bring him he-- He's enjoying himself.

-He is?

Yeah.

-And he’ll dig too at times.

-I wish I had his energy.

[Willem chuckles] I mentioned earlier in the story that I brought a rock to give to Nash.

It came home with me from a canoe trip to the Canadian Arctic.

It ain’t much, [Willem chuckles] except where it came from-- I brought-- It’s for Nash.

It’s a chip off an island, called Hepburn Island, north of the north coast of Canada.

But that's one little piece-- -Thank you so much.

I appreciate that-- -Hepburn Island, you’ll see it.

-We will, we will.

Thank you so much for that-- -Most beautiful harbor I’ve ever seen in my life.

-This is a piece that my friend, Nate Roberts-- -Yes.

-This is a beautiful piece.

-Steven brought along a smoky quartz crystal that a friend dug up here years ago.

-Years ago, I guess back in the 60s/70s?

So you'll see on the back of this crystal.

-Oh, look at that!

Isn’t that nice?

♪♪ -See how it's all re-healed on the back?

-Yup.

-That means that fell off at one time.

The pocket refilled with fluid and then re-healed all the, the backside of that crystal.

-This crystal is the exception rather than the rule.

It's a lot like collecting antiques.

You can dig and scrape for a lifetime and never hit the jackpot.

But what you do find you treasure.

♪♪ It’s been a good day at Moat Mountain.

We can't quite retire on what Steven and Stacy unearthed, but the chance to spend time outdoors with new friends, that's reward enough.

♪♪ Since we filmed that story, Nash has developed a real talent, not only as a rockhound, but also as an artist.

♪♪ Well, it's about time to say goodbye so I guess I shall.

I’m Willem Lange and I hope to see you again on Windows to the Wild.

♪♪ Support for the production of Windows to the Wild is provided by the Alice J. Reen Charitable Trust, the John D. McGonagle Foundation, the Bailey Charitable Foundation, Road Scholar, and viewers like you.

Thank you!

-Make a gift to the wild and support the Willem Lange Endowment Fund, established by a friend of New Hampshire PBS.

To learn how you can keep environmental, nature and outdoor programing possible for years to come, Call our development team at (603) 868-4467.

♪♪ ♪♪