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.

28m 44s

Columbia River Toxins

8m 18s / TV-G

The mid-Columbia River, above Bonneville Dam, has never been tested extensively for contamination until now. Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality conducted one of its largest surveys and found the middle river shares many of the same contaminants as the lower river.

Backpacking the Olympic Coast

9m 18s / TV-G

Three women backpack along the wilderness section of the Olympic Peninsula coastline, navigating tides, steep headlands, and isolated tracts of pristine beaches. They discover abundant wildlife, tidal pools, and natural beauty. And along the way as they encounter natural hazards and challenges, they discover a renewed vigor, kinship, and sense of empowerment.

Llama Backpacking

9m 32s / TV-G

Monica Drost and her friends have been backpacking together since they were in college. But now in their 50s, they can’t carry their heavy packs anymore. Luckily, they found a llama outfitter and can now enjoy the wilderness without the aches and pains.

Christmas Bird Count

7m 56s / TV-G

Portland has the second largest Christmas Bird Count in the Americas as volunteers dedicate one concentrated day to taking a census of area birds. The CBC provides the nation’s best record of the rise and fall of bird populations.

BioBlitz

9m / TV-G

There’s only one place in Oregon where you can find wild elk, mountain beaver and pygmy owls in the middle of a city - it’s Portland’s Forest Park. But these, and a myriad of other species, remain hidden from most Portlanders. During the Spring of 2012, over 150 wildlife experts and volunteers converged on the park for 24 hours to search streams, trees, and undergrowth for anything that moved.

Outdoor School

11m 44s / TV-G

Outdoor School has been a rite of passage for sixth graders in the Portland metro area since the mid-1960s. Recently, we spent a week at Camp Namanu outside Sandy with a group of students. We interview founder Warren “Gil” Gilfillan, and see film of students, educators and Mr. Gilfilan from the first Outdoor School in 1966.

Condors and Lead

10m 46s / TV-G

Condor recovery efforts face serious setbacks when dozens of birds released to the wild get sick or die from lead poisoning. Scientists link the lead found in the condors to bullet fragments from hunters’ carcass discards. Producer - Vince Patton Videographer - Todd Sonflieth Editor - Lisa Suinn Kallem Video Courtesy - Jeff McLoughlin & "Shadow of the Condor", Michael Durham, Oregon Zoo

Aerial Fish Stocking

8m 48s / TV-G

Every other year, Oregon biologists dangle a device below a helicopter and drop young fish into high mountain lakes for the pleasure of Cascade anglers. The state takes precautions to sterilize many of the fish because most of the fish planted in Oregon lakes are not native to the region.

Hiking from Portland to the Pacific Coast

7m 13s

After 7 years of scouting, Jim Thayer of Portland has plotted a hiking route from Portland to the Pacific coast without using highways. Since trails don’t cover the entire path, he has found logging roads open for public access. Here he shows us two segments, one along the Salmonberry River and its washed out rail line and another near Saddle Mountain suitable for biking down to Seaside.

Cloud Cap Inn

7m 57s / TV-G

In 1889, visionary pioneers built the Cloud Cap Inn on the north shoulder on Mt Hood as a destination resort. They were ahead of the their time, but despite the vicissitudes of man and Mother Nature, the venerable inn endures today, lovingly preserved by the Hood River Crag Rats as their “open to the public” clubhouse.

Jim Rogers

11m 29s / TV-G

Jim Rogers is one of the most influential people you’ve probably never heard of. He’s a mountain man who lives deep in the woods. Yet his influence extends all the way to Washington DC. He helped create not one, but two official wilderness areas in Oregon. Some people call this environmental logger the “John Muir of the Elk River.”

Warren Falls

7m 57s / TV-G

If there’s one thing that makes the Columbia River Gorge stand out, it’s the waterfalls. But did you know that one of those waterfalls is not natural. One waterfall lover wants that man-made waterfall closed down in order to restore Warren Falls, which has been blocked for more than 70 years.

Mt. Hood's Volcanic Past

8m 20s / TV-G

As George Washington was winning the revolutionary war, a deluge of volcanic debris was killing trees on the Sandy River. Mount Hood erupted for nearly a decade, just a few years before Lewis & Clark came through. The mountain many Portlanders regard as part of the city skyline is actually an active volcano with a more recent history of activity than many people realize.

Yellow Tuft Alyssum

8m 50s / TV-G

A new invasive species from Europe has been introduced in the Illinois River valley. Botanists say yellow tuft alyssum poses a threat to dozens of rare endemic Oregon wildflowers, but there's still hope it could be eradicated.

Cattle Drives

9m 5s / TV-G

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.

Timberline Lodge 75th Anniversary

9m 15s / TV-G

Oregon’s Timberline Lodge was part of FDR’s Works Progress Administration - a program that not only put people to work, but also preserved some of the finest of the Northwest’s indigenous arts. Despite the museum-quality art and hand-made furnishings, Timberline is still open to the public today. Could a large-scale public works project like Timberline, focused on recreation be built today?

Gorge Weeds

8m 17s / TV-G

The Columbia Gorge is one of our favorite playgrounds. But recreational use brings in noxious weeds that crowd out native species and upset the area’s ecological balance. We take a look at the challenges state agencies, land managers and non-profit groups face in trying to control the influx of these invasive “game-changers” and their efforts to coordinate these efforts.

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