(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Remember roller derby professional wrestling on skates?

We'll meet the new not made for TV version.

- You have professionals, doctors, lawyers, teachers, healthcare, moms, any, any size, any age, all kinds.

- [Narrator] We head out to Lone Elk Park at feeding time.

We meet the park supervisor and the real boss of the place.

- You can't make them do anything they don't want to do.

- [Narrator] We'll find out about new plans for cities and towns up and down the Mississippi River to better manage this resource and find out how this bus is not about transportation but transformation.

It's all next on "Living St. Louis".

(warm music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Hi, I am Anne-Marie Berger.

Tonight we start with a story about a sport that's not as well known around St. Louis.

It's part endurance, part wrestling, and it's done on wheels.

Our first story produced by Jess Pierce shows how one roller derby team's aggression in the rink first starts with fierce comradery.

(soft music) - [Narrator] The sun sets, sprinklers run, families migrate home, and a team of roller derby skaters gear up for a scrimmage.

(soft music) A nondescript building in the Tri Township Park District in Troy, Illinois, houses the meetups for the Confluence Crush Roller Derby team.

- It started in 2011, some skaters started from another league and since it's the confluence where the rivers beat we're right by there, so they come up with the Confluence Crush.

With roller derby, you have a jammer who wears the star on their head and then you have four blockers for each team.

So the goal is for the jammer to get through the blockers and as they come around and each person on the opposing team is a point.

So you just wanna get as many points as possible.

We always work on a lot of footwork 'cause you're on wheels, lots of strategy, how to get the jammer through how to stop the opposing jammer.

There's lots of strategies.

(laughing) We take people that don't even know how to skate and we'll teach 'em from beginners how to skate.

You have professionals, doctors, lawyers, teachers, healthcare, moms, any size, any age, all kinds.

(upbeat music) - When I turned 40, I went into our local skateboard shop and they had a little card for a team that was here before Crush and I just came and checked it out.

Joined a team for the first time at my age then was very scary and caused a lot of anxiety.

But once I got here I kind of just got over it really quickly because of the atmosphere.

- It's a really inclusive space.

So we accept all kinds, we encourage all kinds and I think being able to truly be yourself, unlock something in people and they bond over it.

It's such an insane thing to do.

Multiple times a week, coming here and just banging your body against people.

Playing a sport that doesn't make you any money, doesn't really have a ton of notoriety.

But whenever it comes down to it, it is the most family-like environment of anything I've ever been a part of.

- I love that it's something to do with my mom.

It's kind of like a bonding experience.

And we play together in game play too.

So I'm her jammer and she's my blocker.

So she's out there looking out for me on the track and off of the track.

I was in a bad spot in life and I feel like it really helped me get out of the mental health funk and it just makes me active and wanna do stuff outside of regular day life.

- [Narrator] Roller derby has its roots in banked track endurance skating, going back as early as the late 1800s.

The 1930s marked significant changes for the sport, making it more competitive and aggressive.

Throughout the 20th century, derby evolved into a flashy display of showmanship, always more of a spectacle than a legitimate sport.

Derby became known to most as entertainment linked to wrestling.

It wasn't until around 2010 that everything changed.

- People hit each other with trash cans.

People flung themselves over rails, destroyed their bodies but it was all sports entertainment and it wasn't until the mid 20 teens, I'd say, where it really starts to turn on its head and really becomes about the female athlete, the non-binary athlete.

That shift just kind of naturally happens as the game grows and as the space grows and becomes a more and more serious sport game.

It kind of becomes harder to sell to the general public 'cause it's not as racing, because it's hard to follow.

So it's something with a really hard learning curve, no matter how much they try to ramp up the production, whenever you can go and watch a football game or a baseball game, hockey game, I feel like it just automatically turns people off from trying to immerse themselves.

It's unfortunate and I think it takes away from some of the beauty that comes from the natural footwork and the strength that these people have.

- [Narrator] Roller derby isn't football or baseball.

With remarkably less media coverage and consumer interest, derby teams are tasked with covering their own costs for equipment, facility rentals, and travel.

A lot of their work is off the rink, crowdsourcing, fundraising, and just spreading the word.

- We do a lot of marketing, a lot of work to get it out there because people don't really realize it's out there.

Whether it be a junior's team, a men's team, a woman's team, there's roller derby in every single state but you just don't know.

- [Narrator] And at the end of the day, they always share the wealth.

- We do a lot of charity work like we work with Catty Shack, which is a cat rescue.

Some of them just worked with a home for adults with disabilities.

We work with a lot of women's shelters in Illinois.

So like when we have bouts, we do raffles.

We were a lot bigger pre-covid so we're in the process of rebuilding.

Our goal is just to keep going and keep growing.

- [Speaker] I will do this for however long I can.

- [Speaker] And I will as well.

- It's just something special.

- It really is.

(soft music) - Ken Burns "American Buffalo" documentary is premiering on Nine PBS and we figured before we sat down to watch it, we'd check in with our own American buffaloes, or more accurately, bison.

For that, Jim Kirchherr went out to where else?

Lone Elk Park.

(soft music) - [Jim] Meet Rocky, he's the boss.

Lone Elk Park's bull bison.

I'm not sure if visitors would think being this up close and personal is lucky or scary or both.

For us it wasn't luck.

This was a meeting that was arranged after a more routine visit a week before.

(warm music) During regular park hours when you go to the visitor's center, it's very likely you will see an elk or two or three.

They wander through the areas where you are allowed to get out of your car and even hike.

But the bison, that's a different story.

Their very large area is fenced in and when you go in they wander freely, you do not.

- In the bison area, you're not allowed to get out of your car, you have to stay in it just like Yellowstone.

The bison in here are not tame.

They are wild animals and they act exactly like a wild animal would when they're protecting their territory.

They have gone after people before.

- So this is sort of typical.

You're here, you're looking, you're hoping to see some bison, nothing yet but you gotta keep your eyes open.

Sometimes they're up in the woods somewhere away from the road but this time we got a good look from the top of the ridge.

You imagine the picture of the great plains and thousands and thousands of buffalo in a herd.

I don't think of them as a woodland animal, but are they, do they do well here?

- They have to have supplemental feed.

We have to give them extra food because no, this is not their natural habitat.

The plains and the prairies are their natural habitat.

- Extra food?

Turns out that's how the day starts around here.

So when we heard about the morning feedings, we decided, well that's something we just have to see.

It's just a little bit after six o'clock in the morning.

We were met by park supervisor Pat Curry.

- But yeah, just follow along and the animals will do their thing.

(warm music) - [Jim] It was already getting light when they started making the rounds with buckets of feed, some for the bison and at this stop, the elk who clearly know the drill (man screaming) (no audio) - Feed 'em grain every morning to supplement their forage.

And it also lets us get eyes on 'em every morning to make sure they're healthy and sound.

Yeah, every morning we do do a count of our animals to make sure everybody's where they're supposed to be, you know?

- [Speaker] Right.

- I had no idea there were so many elk in Lone Elk Park but now we're gonna find the bison.

That should be interesting.

(no audio) - You can't make them do anything they don't want to do.

You have to convince 'em it's their idea.

Rocky, yeah, he's about nine years old.

He's been our herd bull for a good seven eight years and he's probably right about 1900 pounds, maybe 2000.

For what we do here at Lone Elk, he has an excellent temperament, you know what I mean?

He's relatively calm.

- [Jim] There have been more aggressive bulls that didn't fit in and the parks department does control the herd, limiting its size and its genetic diversity.

It doesn't seem all that risky to be this close or more typically this far.

Which is why the warnings are repeated over and over, and over and over, people will ignore them.

Yeah, when you drive through, sometimes it seems like, well, both the elk but also the bison, they're just sitting there.

They seem kind of peaceful, but they're not always peaceful.

- Not always.

The bison can run 35 miles an hour and so they can maneuver through the trees at a pretty good speed or a lot faster than a human could run.

They're gonna be able to outpace you and the bison get territorial with their area, the elk, it's getting to be their mating season.

Most of the time they're pretty calm.

Also, you'd never want to approach them because they can see that.

- [Jim] But you've seen people approach them.

- I have seen people approach them.

- How do I say this?

People sometimes do dumb things with the elk here, don't they?

- Yes.

- I want you to be diplomatic here, but I'm not being diplomatic.

(laughing) - Yes, I've seen people do some things that are not the best decisions.

- You never know what the animals are gonna do.

You never know what to expect from the animals and they keep it interesting and they keep it fun and keep it enjoyable.

- [Jim] Lone Elk Park is a great safe place to go.

As long as you remember it's not a petting zoo and that the boss is way bigger and faster than you are.

(no audio) - St. Louis loves its historic role as the gateway to the west which means if you're looking west, your back is to the Mississippi River.

Well our guest today, I think, take a different perspective.

Colin Wellenkamp is executive director of the Mississippi City.

I knew I was gonna mess this up.

Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative, MRCTI, and which is made up of the mayors of cities and towns up and down the Mississippi River.

Also joining us as Jennifer went whose focus is primarily on environmental issues, clean water, plastics, those sorts of things.

Lots to talk about.

It's a big river with a lot of different elements that that you have to deal with.

But right now all I'm reading about is salt water in the Gulf of Mexico moving into the Mississippi River.

That's kind of a big deal and it's something you're keeping an eye on, right?

- Keeping an eye on and intervening on as well.

The drought that we have been experiencing on the Mississippi River back and forth, up and down since last fall.

So for a year now, including the St. Louis region, all the way up to the headwaters and all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico.

It's one big long drought is having a more adverse, acute effect on our southern Louisiana cities right now as saltwater moves up from the Gulf through the channel of the Mississippi to the freshwater intake valves of New Orleans, Gretna, Westwego and Harahan, Louisiana.

Those are four cities that are all clustered together right near the mouth of the Mississippi and they do not have the ability to treat salt water for their drinking water systems.

So they haven't had to deal with this before in history.

And we are monitoring, of course, when I say we, I mean local governments, state and federal agencies are all monitoring together this saltwater wedge that is moving closer and closer to those cities.

And is due to impact their freshwater intake by the end of October.

- And the low level of the Mississippi River, it's affecting things up here as well.

I mean we depend a lot on barge traffic, right?

- Right.

- So if the water gets low, barge traffic is limited.

- Barge traffic is limited, the whole global commodity supply chain of the planet becomes impacted.

And everyday Americans feel that at the grocery store.

They feel it in Starbucks, they feel it in restaurants, they feel it in cafes.

The Mississippi River basin produces 40% of the world's food supply.

It produces 90% of US grain output, 40% of all agricultural output of the entire United States moves on the Mississippi River.

So unfortunately, when we have long periods of drought and we have to limit what we move, especially during harvest time right now, it really can impact our wallets across the country, across the world.

And that's where the drought hits home.

It cost us 20 billion in actual losses to this country last year.

- So this is something that fascinates me about this organization.

And Jennifer, you probably deal with this 'cause you're dealing with environmental issues, right?

- [Jennifer] Yes.

- So whether you're a big city or you're a small town, you've got environmental issues, maybe they change from place to place or whatever but how do you get, that's a local issue for me, right?

And it's a local issue for Kimmswick or for Vicksburg or for Quad Cities.

What's the advantage of bringing the mayors together to talk about what is basically for each of them a local problem?

- I think the biggest benefit is the partnerships and the collaboration because so many of these cities like Kimmswick you mentioned has 200 people, I believe?

- 164.

- 164 would not be able to get attention needed for that city on the river.

But once they all all speak together in one common voice, that's how change happens.

Because then we come together as a whole organization all 104 mayors, whether they're bipartisan, diverse groups of people and, but all focus on the same thing and everybody needs to protect that river.

- Now you brought up something, and Colin, you deal with this as well, but when we talk, we know we have deep political divisions in this country and you guys, this organization goes through blue and red and purple states and small towns and all of that.

When you're dealing with environmental issues especially things like climate change, do those political differences interfere in the ability to get things done or do people kinda set those aside when we all sit down together as mayors?

- I think that years ago it was more the case than it is now.

I think it is definitely more common knowledge but I also think that we don't need to even bring up climate change when dealing with the issues that these cities are taking care, are facing, whether it's plastic pollution, drought, nutrients in their water, their drinking water supply.

That doesn't have to be the focus.

What has to be the focus is their local communities and the collaboration of everybody working together.

- Yeah Colin, I wanted to ask you about at the last meeting, I think it was in Twin Cities, mayors came away with this idea that they should have a compact, I'm not sure what the term is, the Mississippi River Compact, and I know we could talk about this for half an hour, but what's the idea here?

What would be different with the compact than say, what the organization you have now?

- The Compact would legally protect the freshwater resource of the Mississippi River.

We have that right now for the Great Lakes.

We have since 2009.

And we have something similar, a similar legal protection for the Chesapeake Bay as well and the Hudson River Valley and upstate New York.

They're look looking at one in the Columbia River Basin in the Pacific Northwest.

What it would do would protect our freshwater system from straws being put into it and taken for any use here as well as out to a farther location.

- We take for granted that we have a water supply here.

- [Colin] Right, we do.

- And I imagine every city along said, "well, we've got water."

- [Colin] Yeah.

- Other people want that water.

- [Colin] Other people want that water.

- So, here's my question, is it really our water or is it the nation's water?

Why should we, that is St. Louis and Vicksburg and Quad Cities and all of those other places, why should they say it's our water and it doesn't belong to places that need more water than we have?

- The nation benefits from the Mississippi River as a working hydrological system that's ecologically healthy.

If you start conveying large doses of water to other parts of the continent, you will compromise that dynamic.

And the harm that we would get and the national security implications to both the US and the planet would be much more expensive than if we keep that water here and part of a working ecology.

And that's what the compact does.

Moving massive amounts of water through an oil, a transcontinental oil style pipeline would devastate the working environmental systems of the Mississippi.

We get much more out of it as a country if we keep that river whole.

- Jennifer in working with other cities and towns and other countries as well.

I think that's the thing.

We are learning from each other.

We're learning from what other river towns and cities are doing in Europe and Asia.

Are we not?

- Well actually we are leading that charge as far as an organization of river corridor wide organization.

And so a lot of other countries do look to MRCTI as being such a powerful voice for local communities and local governments and this, especially the partnerships and the working across party lines, that really benefits other people learning from us.

But of course we learn so much everywhere we go especially when it comes to environmental issues and those types of things.

- Well thanks.

I know it's steady work.

Jennifer Wendt and Colin Wellenkamp from the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative.

Thanks for joining us, I appreciate it.

- Thank you.

- Thank you for having us.

- Well finally, another story about protecting another kind of important resource for the future.

Leah Gullett tells us about a program empowering girls and young women as they embark on life's journey.

(no audio) (warm music) - [Leah Gullett] It's well known that the mental wellbeing of kids and teens took a negative hit during the pandemic.

New data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reveals teen girls are suffering in unprecedented ways.

In a survey published in early 2023, nearly 60% of high school girls reported having persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness.

Fortunately, there are people in St. Louis who have made the health and wellness of young girls in the community a priority.

- SistaKeeper Empowerment Center was started in 2002 in my basement, and now it is local, national, and global.

But the biggest piece is that we're right here in our community.

We focus on mental health for women and girls.

- [Leah Gullett] Tracie McGhee is a licensed therapist who's made it her life's work to empower young women by promoting healing and mental wellbeing through her SistaKeeper organization.

- When you're a keeper, you're defining your voice, you're making sure that you are aware of the issues that impact our community.

- [Leah Gullett] She calls this work the I Define ME Movement, hosting summits, retreats and conferences.

She's also created a curriculum all focusing on the mental wellbeing and professional development of middle and high school girls.

- Going through the program, I was introduced to other girls or sistas as Ms. Tracie would say, at SistaKeeper.

And it really just helped me open up a little bit more and socialize and say maybe it's okay to talk about things.

I am a graduating senior at Whitfield School and in fall 2023, I'll be headed to Spelman College to major in economics and minor in psychology.

- Tracie felt like it was time for something new and wanted to bring her mental health and wellness services to the community.

She put everything in her newly renovated vehicle and hit the road.

- So this is the Wellness Mobile.

This is the only one in the country and the goal is that we have many, many more all over the world in every state.

All these girls have a story.

(warm music) We also want our girls, when they come on the Wellness Mobile to understand the value of being a whole girl.

So we have body products that focus on loving yourself.

Our products are made for girls by girls.

And then we wrap up with making sure that our girls take a selfie so they're able to come here and define their smile and take a selfie and remember to only post positivity to social media.

- [Leah Gullett] The selfie station is the highlight of the Mobile for a reason.

Recently, the US Surgeon General issued a public, urgent warning for parents and caregivers to monitor their youth more on social media.

The advisory states that 95% of teens and 48% of kids ages eight through 12 are on social media three and a half hours a day on average, three hours or more of use doubles the risk of depression and anxiety.

- I knew that it was important for me, I felt, to have a space that women and girls could come to and focus on prevention, intervention, and awareness.

When we say SistaKeeper with an a, we're very specific, that A means black, white, tall, short, thick or thin, hazel up, blended, cantaloupe skin.

Just open up that multicultural Crayola box and find your color.

And if you do, that means you're a sista.

(soft music) - That's all the "Living St. Louis" we have for tonight.

We love hearing from you.

So follow us on our social channels or send us an email at lsl@ninepbs.org.

Goodnight.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - [Narrator] "Living St. Louis" is funded in part by the Betsy & Thomas Patterson Foundation and the members of Nine PBS.