Top ODFW videos in 2022

ODFW posted about 40 videos on YouTube in 2022, not including livestreams of public meetings such as Fish and Wildlife Commission meetings. Topics have ranged from fishing and hunting tips and to conservation success stories, and from monitoring elk in the air to counting insects in a river.

Here are our 10 favorite productions.

#1 Chum reintroduction

A History of Salmonids in the Columbia River Basin and ODFW’s Chum Salmon Reintroduction Project. It goes to show that people love chum salmon and educational videos. With more than 12,000 views since publishing in January 2022, this 30-minute video is capturing people’s attention and has lively and somewhat civil comment section. (31:47)

#2 Fly-fishing for steelhead

Egg-pattern fly fishing for steelhead on the Millicoma River. ODFW’s annual Steelhead Week video series is always popular among anglers. This year’s most popular video of the mid-season steelhead series was filmed on the Millicoma with ODFW’s south coast district fish biologist. (7:46)

#3 Crab ID - male vs female

Dungeness Crab Male vs. Female, how to tell the difference.  This remix of a 2017 ODFW video was created in response to requests for more educational material in identifying male and female crabs. We hope the video helps with a legal harvest for future crabbers! (1:24)

#4 High tech wolf monitoring

Advances in wolf monitoring with high tech help from OSP Fish and Wildlife Troopers. There are many reasons this video was popular in 2022. Wolves, high-tech camera gear, airplanes. (1:03)

#5 Sage-grouse on display

Sage Grouse Aerial Survey 2022 with ODFW. A helicopter flight over southeast Oregon yields some key data points for biologists looking for sage grouse leks. (4:17)

#6 Pond turtle research

Northwestern Pond Turtle East Cascades Research with ODFW in Mosier, Oregon. One of only two native turtle species in Oregon and a state sensitive species, this on-going research project near The Dalles is helping landowners protect NW pond turtles. (6:28)

#7 Studying aquatic insects

Benthic Macroinvertebrate Sampling 2022 Tumalo Creek Upper Deschutes River Basin. Organisms that live on the bottom of streams and rivers feed fish. Experienced and knowledgeable anglers know what bugs are hatching and can adjust on the fly. A healthy stream contains a diversity of benthic macroinvertebrates. (4:38)

#8 Spawning surveys on Wenaha

Wenaha River Chinook Spawning Survey Sept 2022. One of Oregon’s most remote Wilderness areas, the Wehana-Tucannon, is home to wild Chinook, native bull trout and a host of wildlife such as bighorn sheep and lots of black bear. (4:08)

#9 Cleaning razor clams

How to clean a Razor Clam with ODFW Shellfish Biologist. Another popular video from the Oregon coast, is helping successful razor clam harvesters enjoy their bounty. (3:52)

#10 Ice fishing

Ice Fishing Workshop with ODFW at Lake of the Woods, Oregon. If the 2023 winter is cold enough for ice fishing, be sure to check out MyODFW.com to learn when, where and if a workshop will be available. It always depends on the weather. (3:00)

Visit MyODFW on YouTube to find these and other videos. And don't forget to subscribe to learn about new videos as they're posted.

ODFW on YouTube

ODFW began sharing videos on YouTube since 2009. We started out slow, but now upload informative and educational videos almost every month. Since 2009, our YouTube channel has grown so that today: 

• There are more than 500 videos on ODFW's YouTube channel.
• More than 29,600 people have subscribe to the channel.
• The channel as an aggregate of 20.8 million views amounting to 469,000 hours of watch time.

Over the years, popular topics have included:

• Fishing, clamming and crabbing basics.
• Hunting tips and how to instructional videos.
• Trail camera videos of Oregon wildlife.
• Conservation stories and restoration projects from around the state.