(bright music) - [Narrator] In 2000, Oregon Field Guide had been OPB's flagship TV show for about 10 years.

And then a young guy from New Jersey came along.

- One of our producers finally left, we had an opening.

It turns out that Ed was a stalker.

He had been following the show for years.

He loved everything outdoors.

He loved telling stories.

He loved the environment.

And this job was perfect for Ed.

(kayaker shouts) So we had this young kid, "Hey, do we have a story that's a little bit more physical or a little bit more dangerous?

Let's send Ed on it."

(water splashing) - [Narrator] Ed dove into the most challenging stories, bringing Field Guide's small team of daring photographers right along with him.

(water rushing) - [Todd] Ed would always take me on a mountain climb or down a big river.

- [Ed] Not a bad spot, huh, Todd?

- [Todd] Every time, I'd say, "Ed, this is it.

This is the last time I'm doing this."

And then, a month later, he would drag me into something else.

(water rushing) - [Ed] There's no trails down this place, so, really this is the only way to get in here.

- [Narrator] One unforgettable story Ed produced was "Waterfall Kayakers."

(water rushing) (kayaker groans) - [Todd] That was really dangerous.

You know, the cliffs were super steep, and yeah, that was one I was kind of swearing at Ed a little bit, giving him a few four-letter words.

(chuckles) - [Ed] How's it feel now, Todd?

- [Todd] I don't know, Ed.

This was a bit much.

- [Narrator] He also profiled mountain unicyclers.

- [Unicycler] Woo-hoo!

- [Kid] Awesome!

- [Narrator] A muskrat trapper.

- [Climber] Rope!

- [Narrator] And a newly discovered system of glacier caves on Mount Hood.

The half-hour special earned Ed two Northwest Emmys and a National Edward R. Murrow Award.

- [Climber] See what's changed?

- [Steve] But that wasn't enough for Ed.

A couple of years later, he decided, "Hey, wait a minute, there's a glacial cave in Mount St.

Helen, is in the crater.

Let's check that one out."

(Todd chuckles) - [Todd] I had to think about it for a bit, but I said, "Okay, I'll go."

(climber shouts) - [Climber] Ed Jahn, you're about to do the Godzilla hole.

(footsteps crackling) - Once we were in the crater, the weather blew in.

I think the gust had been about 40 miles an hour.

A helicopter was supposed to come get us, he had to cancel because of the weather, so we ended up having to walk out of the crater.

(water rushing) - [Ed] You got it?

- [Todd] It's always an adventure shooting with Ed.

(chuckles) (calm music) - [Narrator] But Ed did more than just experience all that Northwest had to offer, he also sought to protect it.

(calm music continues) - [Silent Invasion] One invasive species can come in and completely change the world that you live in.

- [Todd] Ed really cares about the outdoors, and he really wanted to have some sort of impact.

He decided to put it all together into what turned out to be a great special.

- [Silent Invasion] In Hells Canyon, an invader from Europe is on the attack.

It's a super weed called yellow star.

- [Narrator] Along with Emmys for best documentary and writing, "Silent Invasion" won a DuPont Columbia Award, one of the most prestigious awards in journalism.

(tense music) Ed's next special was even more ambitious.

- [Unprepared] How will Oregon survive a major earthquake?

- [Steve] The special that Ed did on Unprepared was a major, major project for Oregon Field Guide.

And what he was able to do was to really show people exactly how unprepared Oregon is if it comes to an earthquake.

- [Unprepared] We are in probably one of the most dangerous places in Oregon.

- [Todd] The school district in Seaside used that project to move the schools from the ocean level up to a hilltop above Seaside.

They told us that that, you know, it was all because of our project.

So that's cool, to think that we had an impact like that.

- [Narrator] In 2017, Ed took over as executive producer and expanded Oregon Field Guide to new platforms to reach new audiences.

(bright music) - [Jes] What if we could look back in time to learn from past earthquakes?

- [Narrator] He launched the web series "All Science, No Fiction," hosted by Jes Burns.

- [Jes] When the next big one hits.

And that's all science, no fiction.

(playful music) - [Narrator] And the award-winning podcast "Timber Wars" with Aaron Scott.

- [Timber Wars] In a fight over giant trees, spotted owls, and the very meaning of the natural world.

- [Narrator] After 25 years on Oregon Field Guide, Ed is off to new adventures.

But as you'll see in this preview of our new season, his impact is here to stay.

- [Kayaker] Color coordination, honey.

- [Jessie] Ed has demonstrated a really good way of immersing the audience in the story.

You know, no gimmicks, no forcing emotion on the audience, it's just we're there, we're in it, learning about something that we might have never learned about before.

- [Friends Of The Rez Dogs] Looks like there's eight of these guys, and we'll get them their first vaccine series in preparation to go to rescue.

- [Jessie] Ed really understood what it took to connect with the people in the story, in a non-extractive way, in a respectful way, which is extremely important and what the world needs right now, and he really demonstrated that.

- [Noah] Ed's thing is always like, "If you want to tell a story a certain way."

Usually, I'm behind the camera.

"You want to maintain authenticity in your storytelling.

Like, hold onto that, fight for it."

- [Attendee] Yeah, Kelly!

- [Noah] That's one thing that everyone on our team is going to take from him because it's worth it for the audience.

- [Ian] Ed gave us a roadmap.

Look for the little, you look for the unusual, find the person with the mud on their boots.

- [Scientist] No one is home.

- [Ian] It's not necessarily the headline news, but it's something kind of registers in their soul.

And I think that's, that's the heart that Ed gave the show.

So, with that sort of roadmap, we'll have stories forever.

- [Ed] A brand new season of Oregon Field Guide is ready to launch.

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