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 59s

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.

Eulachon Smelt

9m 50s / TV-G

Oregonians over 40 remember the fun of dipping nets into rivers alive with huge runs of eulachon smelt. Today, the tiny, mild-flavored fish is officially listed as "Threatened" and their harvest is radically restricted by state fish and wildlife managers. In large part, the listing is thanks to action by the Cowlitz Indian Tribe.

Slot Canyon Geology

5m 25s / TV-G

Inspired by our recent visits to the Valhalla slot canyon, we wondered just how these unusual features form. PSU emeritus professor of geology, Scott Burns takes us to Oneonta Gorge and explains how it all comes about and shows us how new technologies are allowing us to find more of them.

Who's Watching Oregon's Wildlife

9m 18s / TV-G

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has a mission to protect all species in the state. But even by its own admission it’s failing. The agency spends money on the fish and the game animals that make money from licenses and tags. It neglects hundreds of other sensitive species.

Mecate Rope Maker

8m 20s

98-year old Frankie Dougal carries on a ranch tradition of horsehair “mecate” ropemaking and is passing it on to the next generation in the southeast Oregon town of Jordan Valley. (Update: Frankie passed away in 2017, at the age of 99.)

Fat Bikes

6m 27s / TV-G

Winters in the Northwest are becoming warmer and wetter as the climate changes. And that spells trouble for skiers and snowboarders as well as the communities that depend on those snow sports. But a new winter sport is gaining traction.

Disappearing Meadows

10m 27s / TV-G

Natural meadows – from the high cascades to the coast – are disappearing. The reasons include climate warming, fire suppression, grazing, debris flows, etc. that encourage invasive plants and trees to take over open ground. We follow researchers as they track the progress of the destruction and restoration teams stemming the loss of these diverse ecosystems and the species that depend on them.

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