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TRYING TO FORCE STEVE AMEN '86, the well-traveled host and executive producer of Oregon Field Guide, to identify his favorite place in Oregon, is like trying to photograph a hummingbird in flight (something the OFG crew managed to do in recently aired Episode 2012).

"When I first came to Oregon, it was definitely the beach," Amen says. "I grew up in Wyoming, so the ocean was a novelty. Personally, I love the Wallowa Mountains, the area around Joseph. And my family loves Central Oregon—the climate is so great, and there's just so much to do there."

Stumped, Amen pauses. "I guess it depends on the mood of the day," he says at last. "But that's the beauty of Oregon, and why we're so lucky to live here. We have all of these options to choose from."

If he was hosting a show in his native state—call it Wyoming Field Guide—Amen says he would have run out of story ideas within a year. But because he was lucky enough to land in Oregon—Amen's father moved him here for his senior year of high school—Oregon Field Guide recently celebrated its 20th anniversary on Oregon Public Broadcasting. And according to its host, there's no end in sight.

"When we first started out, we thought, 'This will be a nice five-year gig,'" Amen says. "But it just keeps going. I don't see this program ending any time soon—in fact, there are at least 50 story ideas that I know of kicking around for next season."

That's good news for OPB. Oregon Field Guide continues to be the highest-rated locally produced program among all the PBS stations in the U.S. The show has won eight regional Emmy Awards and was up for an amazing 13 nominations this year. "The Silent Invasion," an Oregon Field Guide special on the impact of invasive species on Oregon ecosystems, won a 2009 Alfred I. DuPont/Columbia University Award for broadcast journalism, the broadcast equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize.

WHAT'S THE SECRET to Oregon Field Guide's longevity? "On the job, we're environmental reporters, not environmentalists," Amen explains. "No matter what we're reporting on, we let our audience make up their own minds."

The program's hard-earned reputation for fairness and respect on hot-button environmental issues like the Klamath Basin water rights battle or grazing on public land is another key to its success. "A lot of what we do is give people access," says Amen. "We'll take you places that, chances are, you'll never see in person, and allow you to meet people and experience ways of life you wouldn't otherwise see."

The affable Amen isn't one to shy away from adventure or from a challenge. Last year, he took on a new one: imparting the trove of knowledge acquired during his quarter-century-plus of award-winning documentary filmmaking as an adjunct professor in PSU's fledgling film program.

"I'm a PSU alum, and I love the school," Amen says. "They asked me if I knew anyone who could teach a documentary film production class. As it happened, I did. I love teaching, and I love filmmaking. It all came together very quickly."

So during winter term, Amen found himself face to face with a class full of students—many of whom had zero experience behind, or in front of, a camera. After a few weeks of what Amen called "Documentary Filmmaking 101," he began to impart the underlying message of his curriculum: Documentary filmmakers carry a certain responsibility and because of that commitment, it's not for everyone.

By spring term, only a core group of students remained—those who realized that being a documentary filmmaker isn't just a four-hour-a-day job. "Basically, you become a lunatic," Amen says, "the type of person who can be locked in an edit bay staring at the same clip for eight hours straight and enjoy it."

During the second term, students pitched ideas to Amen and started shooting. "The goal was for each student to have at least one broadcast-worthy story at the end of the term," Amen says. "Because in this business, while the resume is important, at the end of the day, it's all about the tape."

THE CREATIVE CHAOS that goes into the production of 13 original 30-minute Oregon Field Guide episodes each year, says Amen, starts with an intensive planning session in March. OFG's staff and other producers pitch their ideas for the upcoming season to Amen, who, as the show's producer, looks for a healthy blend of stories. The successful OFG formula includes one investigative piece or in-depth story, one species or location related piece, and one lighter or more scenic piece per episode.

For each 7- to 10-minute piece ultimately aired on OFG, the crew will shoot roughly five or six hours of video over the better part of a week. More weeks are spent researching, looking at tapes, writing scripts, and editing the video. "It's a large commitment," Amen says. "We're very grateful that OPB gives us enough of a budget to really follow the story. Before we started Oregon Field Guide, we looked at a lot of different outdoor shows. We discovered that a lot of them are just hooks and bullets. We wanted to find a more thoughtful balance."

Growing up poor in rural Torrington, Wyoming, Amen had no thoughts of a career in television journalism. While at PSU, he studied theater, speech, print journalism, and still photography. It wasn't until he took an internship at Portland's KATU-TV that the adrenaline rush of TV news first took hold. "Not long after I started at KATU, the DC-8 crashed in east Portland," Amen says. "I was up 24 to 36 hours at a stretch without sleep while we were covering the story—I absolutely loved it."

Documentary films for the likes of HBO and PBS Frontline followed. But for the last 20 years, Amen's heart and soul have been right here in his adopted home state.

"I have the greatest job on the planet—people tell me that all the time," Amen says. "But I'm not the star of Oregon Field Guide—Oregon is the star."

Jeff Kuechle is a freelance writer and frequent contributor to Portland State Magazine.

The crew of Oregon Field Guide in 2004 are (left to right) Todd Sonflieth, Jim Newman, host Steve Amen, Ed Jahn, and Nick Fisher.