Oregon Field Guide

Oregon is losing its dark and starry skies to light pollution, with consequences to both people and wildlife.

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.

Open Slopes PDX is making skiing and snowboarding more accessible and welcoming to Black, Indigenous and other people of color. On Mount Hood, the joy is infectious as BIPOC people try snowboarding and skiing for the first time.

A lot of outdoorsy folks love to jump into a cold mountain lake on a hot summer day. And some are even brave enough to dash into cold water on a dare -- what some might call a “polar plunge.” But getting into painfully cold water has become a way

It took a small but intrepid group of farmers to show that Oregon could be a center for grape growing and wine production. Now another small group is trying to prove the case for olive oil production. Enter Javier Fernandez-Salvador. The OSU berry and tree fruit expert is spearheading the

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

On the prairies of Northeast Oregon, bison have made a comeback. Two sisters take over the family business at the Stangel Bison Ranch in Enterprise, Ore, bringing back bison that are good for both the land and the local economy.

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.

In the remote sagebrush rangelands of Lake County, Oregon, a couple offers a unique workshop where folks can make their own custom skis. Micheal and Kristin have built a business and a lifestyle. They live in a mobile tiny house they built themselves, make skis in a second tiny trailer,

There is little Indigenous representation in the surfing communities situated in and around Oregon's Indigenous ancestral lands. The Siletz Warrior surf camp is a chance to learn surfing and build power and positionality to become influential stewards of the land.

An Oregon company is using Oregon’s vast high desert to test the parachute system of the European Space Agency’s EXOMars rover.

The Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde manage their land with a long-term vision for the food and resources they want to see for generations into the future.

Known as the "Colorful Cowgirl", Gloria Michelle is putting her personal twist into a 4-generation family tradition of handmaking mecate reins out of horsehair.

Rhododendron Garden Photo Essay

For a lot of folks, getting your driver's license for the first time is a major life milestone. For the teenagers of the Hood River Soaring Club, their first license won't be to drive a car but to fly a glider plane.

With an emphasis on responding to and preventing conflicts with humans, Bend-based Think Wild is a non-profit hospital and rehabilitation center for wild animals. The facility’s handful of staff and rotating group of volunteers respond to everything from animal “pest” control to rescuing, treating, rehabilitating and releasing recovered animals

A visual journey through Portland’s Japanese garden.

Science fiction is fast becoming a reality on the apple orchards of Central Washington, where farmers facing labor shortages are testing out robots that could be the fruit pickers of the future.

Jerry Christensen has a job that truly stinks. But he loves it! Meet the man known as “Two-Ply” who cleans and maintains the river-access-only outhouses along the popular Deschutes River.

Horse trainer Clint Surplus carries on the centuries-old tradition of vaquero bridle horses.

Ever wonder what makes gemstone sparkle? It starts with the way a crystal reflects and refracts light. Gemstone cutters must choose a design with the right angles for that stone, so that light passes through, bounces back to the top and catches the eye of the beholder. Karl Ziltener of

The legacy of salt making is explored, from the days of Lewis and Clark to the modern salt-making facilities of Jacobsen Salt Company.

The small wonders of nature are observed in photographer Todd Sonflieth’s backyard photo essay.

This zany race combines Ford Model T’s, pigs and a dirt track at the Tillamook county fairground. The Pig-N-Ford has been an Oregon tradition for nearly 100 years.

A visual exploration of Smith Rock State Park by photographer Todd Sonflieth.

The world's largest dam removal project is underway on the Klamath River in Southern Oregon and Northern California. The project will dramatically change summertime whitewater rafting and remove the lakes some people have built their lives around while reopening more than 400 miles of potential habitat for salmon

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.)

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

Every October, the residents of Tualatin take 1,000 pound pumpkins, carve them into boats, and race them around the Lake of the Commons.

Tree Climbing School at Dorena offers a demanding 4-day training to teach ecologists and scientists the skills they need to ascend some of the world’s tallest trees.

Photographer Brandon Swanson showcases the loveliness of the North Umpqua River during a rainstorm.

In 2006, invasive green crabs were just starting to show up in Oregon bays. Nearly two decades later, these non-native critters are multiplying at alarming rates and threatening Pacific Northwest shellfisheries.

Exploring the surprising natural oasis in the most urban watershed in Oregon with the folks of the Columbia Slough Watershed Council and a dedicated volunteer helping to clean it up.

The Sunflower Sea Star once flourished along the west coast of the US. However this beautiful echinoderm has been dying out in large numbers due to a mysterious syndrome known as wasting. Jason Hodin is part of a team of University of Washington scientists that are attempting to preserve this

A storybook Christmas comes to life in the small-town of Sumpter, Oregon.

Spiders have bad eyesight, so how do they "see" what's happening on their webs? Oregon State University scientists create models to understand the way web vibrations serve this function... and can even create music.

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.

Eric Thompson was born and raised in Oregon and comes from a long line of hunters. He travels with a German Wirehaired Pointer named “Sky” among the rugged desert grasslands of the Columbia Plateau in search of the elusive Chukar.

Geologist Nick Zentner (of “Nick on the Rocks” fame) takes us on an entertaining road trip to explore the "ginkgo" lava flow that erupted in central Washington and flowed all the way to the Oregon Coast 16-million years ago.

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

Enjoy this curated selection of behind the scenes moments with Oregon Field Guide staff.

Oregon Field Guide spent a year-and-a-half probing into the state of Oregon’s preparedness, and found that when it comes to bridges, schools, hospitals, building codes and energy infrastructure, Oregon lags far behind many quake-prone regions of the country.

Oregon Field Guide assembles its largest, most complex expedition ever to take you on an unparalleled adventure of discovery. We travel deep into the wilderness to explore and bring back the first images of a hidden geologic wonder right here in Oregon.

Oregon stretches for 98,000 spectacular square miles. Much of Oregon's beauty lies in remote places most people never see. But Oregon Field Guide photographers travel to every corner of this state. After 25 years, Oregon continues to surprise us with new marvels that take our breath away.

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

Three stories that examine the 30-year legacy of the timber wars in the Pacific Northwest. Scientists get creative to locate the last spotted owls in Oregon, a small town celebrates its logging history, and a unique partnership between environmentalists and timber workers looks to move beyond a history of conflict.

There’s plastic in the ocean, in our rivers and even in the food we eat. How did the Pacific Northwest, a region that prides itself on environmental stewardship, come to this?

Wild horses in captivity now outnumber those in the wild, trapped in a $76 million bureaucracy that captures, feeds and stockpiles more horses than any other in the nation. Fierce battles pit horse advocates, ranchers and the BLM on a collision course. Meanwhile, horse lovers step up to try to

Oregon Field Guide returns to the dangerous back country slopes of Mount Hood with a team of scientists to investigate why the glacier caves documented back in 2013 have all but disappeared. We team up with Portland State University Emeritus Professor of Geology, Scott Burns, for a fun exploration of

The Kalmiopsis was once one of the most beautiful wilderness areas in Oregon...but fire ravaged the landscape, turning a half million acres of lush forest into a burnt wasteland. The Biscuit fire is Oregon’s largest wildfire on record, and today scientists are asking why this fire got so