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 30s

Philomath Frolic

8m 12s

Philomath, Oregon was one of many towns that faced hard times as jobs left and mills closed. But today, the Philomath Frolic is an event that brings joy to people, and gives the community a place to connect and hold onto all that makes small town life great.

Backpacking the Coast Range

10m 53s

Oregon Field Guide likes to capture a bit of everything--science, wildlife, adventure, rural life-- but it’s not every day that we get to tag along on someone’s vacation. That’s what happened when producer Danika Sandoz met two women joined them for their Portland to Coast bikepacking adventure.

An Epic Model Railroad Recreates the Columbia River Gorge

6m 56s

Ever wonder what it would be like to be a giant towering over the Northwest landscape? You can find out at the Columbia Gorge Model Railroad Club, where even children loom like Godzilla over all the iconic sites of the Gorge, from Union Station to Multnomah Falls to the Crooked River High Bridge.

Strange creatures are showing up by the millions along the Oregon coast

4m 15s

Sometime after 2014 — no one can say exactly when — scientists started getting reports of a mysterious sea creature showing up on Oregon beaches. And not just a few either — these things were showing up by the millions, and they were unlike anything scientists had ever seen here before. They are pyrosomes, or “sea pickles” as they are sometimes called.

Parkdale in the Winter

1m 51s

Parkdale, Oregon, is known for its abundant fruit orchards and agricultural crops, but the quiet winter months offer supreme opportunities for photography, especially with the majestic Mount Hood as its backdrop. Enjoy this stunning photo essay by OPB Photographer, Nick Fisher.

Oaks Bottom Forge

8m 7s / TV-G

Blacksmiths used to be an integral part of every community. Today, we can get pretty much anything we need at the store and blacksmiths are few and far between. But that's changing. One traditional forge in an urban Portland neighborhood is attracting everyone from engineers to chefs who want to learn how to forge their own tools. It's part of a resurgent interest in old-world craft.

Bioluminescence

6m 55s / TV-G

Biologist Robin Kodner specializes in the study of tiny sea creatures that produce light (bioluminesce) when they're disturbed in the water... and nobody is really sure why. Robin shows us these mysterious creatures in both their incandescent beauty and under the microscope.

Owyhee River Journey

10m 50s / TV-G

Oregon Field Guide joins geologist Dr. Liz Safran and river guide Audrey Gehlhausen for a journey through the geologic wonderland of the Owyhee Canyonlands. Beginning in the small town of Rome, Oregon, our cameras reveal a raw and breathtaking landscape sculpted by lava flows, landslides and volcanic eruptions.

River Snorkeling

8m 27s / TV-G

River snorkeling offers a great opportunity to see a whole world under the surface. We'll join Russ Ricketts on local rivers. Russ teaches us ways to enjoy this peaceful environment. We'll also show Dave Carpenter, a river steward for the Native Fish Society, a very different prospective of what the river holds.

Tillamook Rock Lighthouse

9m 29s / TV-G

Tillamook Rock is home to the notorious "Terrible Tillie" lighthouse. Built in 1879, the lighthouse warned ships away from Tillamook Head for some 80 years before the storm-prone outpost proved too difficult to maintain. Today, it is a privately owned "columbarium" as well as a federally managed wildlife refuge.

Mountain Goat Survey

8m 2s / TV-G

Prior to the eruption of Mt St Helens, few people realized there were mountain goats living in the area. While that population was likely wiped out by the blast, anecdotal sightings of these high-climbing, sure-footed mammals began to crop up in the 1990s. In 2014, Gifford Pinchot National Forest biologist Mitch Wainwright put together the first official mountain goat survey.

Tractor Museum

7m 23s / TV-G

Erl McLaughlin of Enterprise is a wheat rancher. The labor-intensive occupation keeps him busy from April to September... and then the winter sets in, and in NE Oregon, winters are long and cold. That's when Erl takes up his unusual hobby- collecting and refurbishing tractors of every shape, size and vintage.

Outdoor Preschool

5m 41s / TV-G

More than half of U.S. preschoolers don't go outside to play even once a day. EarthFix looks at a new program of outdoor schools for early childhood education on Washington state’s Vashon Island. This story will look at the benefits of children spending time outside and the dwindling time dedicated to recess.

Wenaha River Packrafting

12m 17s / TV-G

Oregon Field Guide joins a multi-day packrafting expedition through the heart of the little-known Wenaha-Tuccannon wilderness. Author Tim Palmer and Zach Collier, an outfitter and river runner, lead this remote expedition down 22 miles of the Wenaha river in Oregon's Blue Mountains. They encounter low water, log-jams and the blackened forest.

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