Peak TV be damned.
The most exciting and inspiring show on television has been quietly trucking along for close to three decades, without succumbing to the whims and fashions of shifting TV trends. And it’s made right here in Oregon.
Now in its 29th season, Oregon Field Guide is more than a local nature program. It’s the most effectively realized reflection of the Northwest that’s out there—a thriving and evolving document of Oregon’s wildest corners (and beyond), its most breathtaking scenery, and its most at-risk ecosystems.
The show is Oregon Public Broadcasting’s longest-running original program, becoming nothing short of a jewel of the state over the years, and despite its enormous appeal and accessibility, it remains more or less unique in the national television landscape. Oregon Field Guide focuses, without flash or agenda, on the immense canvas that is the world outside Oregonians’ doorsteps—the wildlife, recreation, geologic phenomena, and ecology found in the landscapes that surround us, and the people who make it their life’s work to study and preserve it.
“It was initially the idea of a fellow with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife,” says longtime host Steve Amen, who got the show off the ground back in 1988. “And they wanted an outdoor magazine show that didn’t really deal with controversies or any real issues—they didn’t want to tick anybody off. They’re a state agency and I don’t blame ’em. They have enough pressure. But that’s not what we wanted; we wanted to be able to look at issues. So when we decided that we were going to go ahead with it, Fish and Wildlife said, ‘It’s yours, we wish you the best.’”
When Amen announced his retirement this year, it marked one of the biggest shifts in Oregon Field Guide since the show began. Amen has been the recognizable face and voice of Field Guide, but as he’s quick to point out, the show has always been the work of a larger team of producers, photographers, and editors. One of those, producer Ed Jahn, has succeeded Amen’s place at the helm of Field Guide for the show’s 29th season, and he’s ready to carry on its mission—a mission that’s made possible by the full weight of support from OPB, and the trust that’s placed in the show’s producers to know what will make for a good story.
“This is what makes the job so addictive,” says Jahn. “Because you know what the goal is, and you can kind of just go. You don’t have to go through 10 tiers of management and try to figure out what advertiser you’re appeasing, you know? There’s no criterion other than: ‘Is this a great story, in the outdoors, in the Northwest?’ I mean, that’s a big umbrella. From there you can go anywhere.”