Oregon Field Guide

Series / 35 Seasons

Oregon Field Guide is your destination for outdoor recreation, ecology, natural resource and travel stories from across Oregon and the Pacific Northwest.

26m 14s

Behind the Scenes Mount Saint Helens Glacier Caves

10m 33s

In 2014 Oregon Field Guide set off to explore the possible findings of a new cave system rumored to exist inside the glacier on the crater's south side of Mt St. Helens. The segment aired with a fascinating story of its discovery but the shoot did not end as hoped. This behind the scenes view will reveal the difficult challenges and circumstances that lead to a dramatic departure from the crater.

Najiah Knight

9m 1s

14-year-old Najiah Knight comes from a long line of rodeo champs. In 2020, the Arlington, Oregon teen made history not only by being the first female to participate in the rough-and-tumble sport of mini-bull riding at New York’s Madison Square Garden, but also earn the ranking of number seven in the world. Her next goal is to be the first woman in the PBR when she turns 18.

Dog Mountain Photo Essay

1m 32s

Dog Mountain has long been a ‘go to’ day hike in the Columbia Gorge, but it’s also insanely crowded in the summer. If crowds aren't your thing, you can enjoy this particular destination remotely-thanks to the photography of Michael Bendixen.

Condit Dam 10-Years Later

13m 29s

A look at how the White Salmon river has recovered 10-years after the Condit dam was demolished. In 2011, the hopes of river runners, biologists, land managers, and local tribes were staked on one unknown premise: remove the 100-year old Condit dam and the White Salmon river would return to its natural state. A decade later, we return to see if those hopes have been realized.

Oregon Desert Trail

11m 15s

The Oregon Desert Trail (ODT) introduced by the Oregon Natural Desert Association invites hikers to experience the vast public lands and striking features of Oregon’s desert outback. It starts near Bend and winds its way southeast in a“W” shape as it links hidden jewels like Crack In The Ground, the Owyhee Canyonlands and Steens Mountain with outposts like Christmas Valley, Fields and Frenchglen.

Range Fence Removal

4m 51s

There are no cows left on Pine Creek Conservation Area, northeast of Bend, but there is barbed wire fence. And soon part of the conservation area will become federally protected wilderness. Backcountry volunteers are racing against that deadline to remove the derelict fence from the land - before wilderness restrictions make an arduous task even more difficult.

Lake Abert Dries Up

16m 6s

Three million migrating shorebirds depend on it for food. Drought has hit that region of the state but some people wonder whether human use of Abert's only water source made things worse. Under Oregon law, Lake Abert has no legal right to any water at all.

Smith Rock Revisited

11m 34s

We team up with sport climbing pioneer Alan Watts and Oregon’s Ryan Palo to revisit the ever-popular Smith Rock to see what has changed and what has stayed the same on the 30th anniversary of the start of sport climbing there. This updates our 1990 story on Alan in HD.

Cattle Drives

9m 13s

A historic cattle ranch in southeastern Oregon moves cows every day. In many ways, cattle drives there have changed little since a century ago. The ranch herds cattle from one end of a million acre range to the other over the course of a year.

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