Oregon Field Guide — Big Wave Surf Competition, Snowy Plover Habitat, Return to Opal Creek

Episode 1902

Big Wave Surf Competition: Surfers with worldwide reputations visit the Oregon Coast for the challenge? Who would have thought it? When conditions are right at Nelscott Reef, near Lincoln City, a wave several stories high appears. The wave shows up only intermittently, is threatening, and irresistible to top surfers. We visit the annual international competition coinciding with the big wave's occurrence at Nelscott Reef.; Read More and Watch this story

Snowy Plover Habitat: European beach grass has invaded the dunes of the Oregon and Washington Coast and decimated the habitat for Western Snowy Plovers, a threatened species who's population numbers have been declining for years. But now biologists are putting bulldozers and even oyster shells to use in an unconventional effort to beat back the dune grass and save the birds.; Read More and Watch this story

Return to Opal Creek: Salamanders, newts and the children who study them have all thrived in the Opal Creek Wilderness since Congress granted federal protection in 1996. See the transformation to the valley and to the old mining town at its center, Jaw Bone Flats. Opal Creek's Ancient Forest Center serves as a center of education and recreation as well as protecting this unique old growth forest in the Opal Creek watershed.; Read More and Watch this story