Tonight on studio 12.

From back to school.

Stress on students to community resilience.

A family therapist shares his advice for teens.

Denver Health CEO Donn Lynn reflects on her leadership through crisis, and we explore how gardens can help us heal.

Plus, the high energy sounds of the burros.

All that right now on studio 12 from the Five Points Media Center in the heart of Denver, Colorado.

This is studio 12.

Hi, I'm bazi Kanani, and welcome to studio 12.

Ryan is out tonight.

Back to school season is here and it's exciting, but it also comes with pressure, anxiety, and a lot of change.

For many students, those first several weeks back in the classroom can feel overwhelming.

That's why we sat down with licensed family therapist Ryan Long.

He shares his advice for teens on how to handle stress.

Find balance and keep mental health a priority.

As the new school year begins.

Here's our conversation.

Being a teenager, especially nowadays, not easy.

Going back to school.

Starting a new school.

Jumping into new classes with new teachers.

Not easy.

Hello, my name is Ryan Long and I am a licensed professional counselor.

I'm also a licensed marriage and family therapist.

I have been working with adolescents and kids and teens and families and young adults for almost 30 years now.

I run groups with teenagers, and I love working and helping people.

As you are going back to school.

You are going to notice, mos likely, some stress and anxiety.

It's a transition.

You had summer.

You could stay up late and d whatever you want all day long.

Or maybe you had a job, or maybe you're hanging with your friends, and now all of a sudden you're having to go to bed early.

You're waking up early, you're going to school, and you have a lot of things that you're juggling.

So it's important to recognize and realize and even name the emotions that you're feeling as you're heading back to school.

There could be stress.

There could be anxiety.

There could be just this anxiety around trying to fit in.

Trying to make friends.

Trying to make connections.

You're getting used to the school.

You're getting used to the layout, the classrooms, the teachers.

It is a lot, of changes and transitions, bu it is very common to be anxious and stressed and worried about all of these changes.

It's important for you to realize, to be self aware of what's happening inside of your brain and in your heart.

So what's happening inside of your body?

Okay, this is where I'm at.

This is what I'm thinking.

And also this is how I'm feeling right now.

And then when you name it and and you can recognize it, it then gives you the ability to talk about it.

And when you can talk about it, when you can vent, when you can share it, when you can put words t your emotions and your thoughts.

It can bring happiness.

It can bring a sense of calmness.

Also when you start back to school, there's all this pressure to jump into sports and extracurricular activities.

It's not uncommo to be anxious and worried about am I going to make new friends this year?

Am I going to fit in?

You know, how do I look?

How are people going to perceive me?

Am I being too much?

Am I being too loud?

I'm not.

Am I, you know.

Do I have the right shoes on?

All of those thoughts and feelings are normal and to recognize it as such.

Also, when you're getting back into school, don't forget you're jumping in and now you have all these different things that you have to do that you need self-care right when you get home.

Make sure you've got some downtime.

You're not going to want to just jump in.

You got to make sure or try to organize it or schedule to where you've just done the six, seven, eight hour long school day.

Some downtime so you can relax, reset, recharge, do some things tha you want to do for a little bit.

You're sitting a lot of the day.

You're learning a lot of the day.

You're tired.

It's tricky because for a lot of you, you're going to want to be jumping on screens, jumping on screens a short amount of time.

That can be pretty good or helpful.

Where it becomes unhealthy or not helpful is when we get home and now we want to spend hours on our phones or hour in front of YouTube and hours.

And that actually does the opposite.

It doesn't recharge you.

It actually drains you.

And the studies show you can be more anxious, more worried, just more on edge.

Longer sessions of screen time.

It is not healthy or good for us and and does not count as self-care.

Good self-care for you.

Teenagers would look like getting good sleep at night, getting exercise, you know, mood movement and playing sports and being outside is good.

Self-care.

Self-care could look like spending time with my friends, doin something enjoyable, picking up or doing some kind of new hobby, or playing in instrument.

Those kinds of things are goo self-care through our failures, through our difficulties, through our tough days that we have a positive self-talk, that we have what's called a growth mindset or growth mindset means, okay, you know what?

I didn't make the soccer team, but I know I'm sad.

I'm really disappointed.

But maybe there's a different sport that I could pick up.

I didn't do well on this test.

These were the things that I did to prepare for the test.

Maybe next time I could prepare a little bit more, or I can prepare maybe a little differently.

Next time.

You're going to want to have the urge to compare yourself.

Compare yourself with what you're wearing.

Compare yourself with, oh, you're an extrovert.

I'm an introvert.

I'm not as good.

I'm inferior.

I'm less than or even compare yourself academically, my grades or I'm not as smart.

The key is, is that you are being you, not that you were trying to be somebody else.

You are going to notice at times for that desire to fit in, that you might do things that maybe aren't you, or that are a little bit risky and to make friends with people that will respect your priorities, your values, your boundaries, rather than trying to be popular and fit in with everybody.

I think the main key is finding your people, finding the people that you know, tha you like them and they like you rather than having the stress to be liked by everybody.

It could be 2 or 3 people.

It could be ten people.

Good, strong connections rather than a bunch of meaningless acquaintances that we don't really know or that we don't really care about.

We're all going to make mistakes.

We're all going to have a test where we don't do perfect on, you know, we're all going to have these things where we are not perfect, and it's important to realize we're human.

We're going to make mistake and that through those mistakes that we can grow and that we can learn from those mistakes, it's important to have realistic goals around homework and amount of time that you can spend every day.

I've noticed with a lot of teenagers, they won't do anything Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and then all of a sudden Thursday they're trying to catch u for five six hours of homework and studying.

Well, that is very stressful to leave it all for one day, but it's also not very efficient with the way our brains work.

Shorter segments of studying are actually more efficient in effective so trying to keep an even pace throughout the week where you decide, okay, I'm going to do 30 minute every day or an hour every day is a lot more effective than trying to do 4 or 5, six, seven hours in one day or one week.

And I've noticed a lot of kids, they don't even know what they need to do.

They don't even know.

They don't even know what they need to do when they get home.

So it's throughout your school day, having someplace where you're keeping track of what needs to get home so that when you do get home, you can go through, okay, I have soccer tonight, but I also have these two sheets of math homework, and I need to study for my science test.

And then that way you have a rough idea of how much time it's most likely going to take.

Being a kid today is is difficult.

There are a lot of pressures.

There's a lot of expectation.

There's a lot of peer pressure to be a certain way or to do certain things, to look a certain way.

Find your support.

What are those activities that you do like to do?

Just give yourself grace.

Your moods might be differen for a little while and not just just to accept it, but to expect it.

The most likely tha what you're experiencing is due to the change in transition, bu that it's not going to be like that for the entire school year.

Some great insights from Ryan.

They're reminding us that mental health is just as important as academics.

If you or a student you know is struggling, don't hesitate to reach out for help, whether that's through a school counselor, trusted adult, or professional resources available in your community.

One of those resources is th 988 Colorado Mental Health Line, which provides free 24/7 support by call, text or live chat.

You can also receive up to six free therapy sessions through I Matter colorado.org, with services in English and Spanish.

Again visit I matter colorado.org to learn more.

This year, the Colorado Women's Chamber of Commerce honored Doctor Donna Lynn with its highest distinction, the Legacy Award, part of the 2025 top 2 Most Powerful Women in Business.

The award recognizes women whose lifetime contributions have left a lasting impact o Colorado's business community, and opened pathways for future generations.

As Simone de Rossi CEO of the chamber, explained, Doctor Lynn has used every platform she's had to driv better outcomes for Coloradans, especially women, families and underserved communities.

Her servant leadership and transformational change have been instrumental in shaping a stronger, more inclusive future for our state.

From New York City government during some of its most turbulent years to leading in health care through times of crisis to serving as Lieutenant Governor of Colorado, Donna Lynn's career has been defined by resilience, service and an unwavering commitment to community.

PBS Twelve's Frannie Matthew sat down with Denver Health CEO Donna Lynn to hear about the fiscal emergencies, public health challenges, and shifting political landscapes she's worked through.

She talked with us about the lessons she's learned along the way and the values that continue to drive her leadership.

Donna, you're being recognized for an amazing career and leadership.

You've had varying experiences and you've had lots of different sectors that you've worked in.

I've always been motivated when I think about the work that I've done by a quote from Marian Wright Edelman, which is service is the rent that we pay.

And I really believe that.

And I've always been motivated by trying to do for others who may not have, whether they're underprivileged, underrepresented.

That's that's been my primary motivation.

You spent the first 20 year in the New York City government.

That means was it three different administrations was actually four administrations in New York City government.

So four different mayors.

And from 1976, into the early 90s, when I first entered service in New York the city was literally bankrupt.

The city went to the federal government and said, we need help.

And they were told, figure it out yourself.

And so we began a pretty, challenging process of unfortunately, cutting our expenses, which meant laying off employees, borrowing money from pension funds, doing some innovative things that would put the city back on a fiscal stability platform.

And, boy, I learned a lot in that time.

And then ultimately found health care as a passion because those employees and their dependents needed the basic health care, benefits, and they cost a lot of money.

Even back then.

Those early days were when the Aids epidemic was breaking out.

And that was a very big issue in New York City, actually, during that time, I worked for the public hospital system in New York.

And we were focused on not only treating those patients, but also dealing with a spike in crime in New York.

That meant, unfortunat circumstances for many people, but for the hospital and the health care system, people coming in with gunshot wounds and other, difficult conditions was definitely eye opening to me.

But seeing some of the impact, that the health care system was experiencing, including the employees, definitely motivated me to think, much more broadly about how do you lead, in a difficult environmen where employees are challenged by the things that they have to face?

Yeah.

You've also drawn a comparison to nature and the shifting, landscape to what it looks like to be a leader.

You went to base camp, right?

I did, I did go to base camp and Everest, and I've climbed a lot of mountains her in Colorado and internationally, which, again, it's one of those things.

If you had told my 22 year old self or even my 32 year old self, that I would be doing these things, I would have said, you're crazy, but, I've used the shifting landscape in climbing from changes in heat, changes in conditions that sometimes make the climb more difficult to focus on being resilient in those instance is because it's always easy to turn around and it's always easy to quit.

I'm not a quitter.

And so persevering through that kind of adversity is really important to m because I do want the ultimate prize which in climbing is the peak.

So how do you take care of yourself so that you can be resilient?

Yeah, well, I'm not so sure I take care of myself, but I do get a lot of enjoyment about working.

And sometimes people, including my children, will say why are you still working, mom?

And I say, because not only do I feel responsible for the people that work for me, but I feel actually motivated by them because they are dealing, particularly in health care.

With that, the work a the frontline can be exhausting.

It can be rewarding, bu it can also be very challenging.

I am so honored to wor alongside the people at Denver Health who are are dealing with are 280,000 patients every single day, and that is a tough job.

I always say a good day is whe I am walking out of this office and into one of our clinics, or into the hospital, or into other environments and hearing from them, but also trying to be authentic myself when there are problems or issues that we're going to have to confront.

Trust is probably the cornerston culture.

We have an aspiration to be the most trusted health care provider in Colorado.

That's not a small task.

And trust has to be earned with your employees, with your patients and with the community.

I did encounter a couple of situations where, community, a particular community said, I'm going to go through some of the things we think you did wrong.

And so when I listen to the members of that community, it wasn't about arguing.

I mean, I think I'm a pretty good debater.

It was really about listening and then reflecting on how could I have done it better or how could the organization have done it better?

So I think that's a really important skill.

I believe in the institutions I work for.

I want to defend them, but there's lots of different viewpoints about how things should be managed.

And so I think listening, is really important.

I really liked your your comments about listening to other people, and I think that's a good lesson for all of us right now in this time of polarization that, you know, peopl have different points of view.

And if you're just talking in an echo chamber, you're not learning much.

Where I think I struggle, and I think many of us struggle is health care's life and death.

It isn't about, you know, should a sign read a certain way, o should we have a tariff or not?

But to the extent that there huge differences in how people think about health care, maybe we're talking about lives.

And so I take that very seriously.

And so that might be the time when maybe I'm not going to listen as much and I'm going to fight.

I'm putting on my fighting clothes, but particularly in the environment we're in right now.

I mean, both here at Denve Health being an important safety net for the city and actually for the state, being faced with a lot of challenges, whether they're from the federal government, the state or the city, and I've been fortunate because having worked in all three sectors, I actually worked for the federal government when I was a youngster.

And, so I've worked for the federal government, the state government and city government, and it gives me an appreciation for the wor that they do and the difficulty, but also the way to communicate with them, the way to compromise, the way to problem solve.

And I think that's really importan for anybody who's in business.

And there's often not that understanding, quote that I like of Donna's, which is very stoic.

We can neither ignore nor react to every obstacle.

What do you mean by that?

Well, I think, as I said, it's easy to get overwhelmed by the things that are being thrown at you.

Chang or, you know, as a, as a leader, it's natural that your people move on to other jobs.

And I had this one circumstance where somebody that I had cultivated and was so, just so proud of and so important to the team one day said, I'm going to leave.

And I my initial reaction was, you can't do that to me.

And then I pulled back and said, wait.

Part of my job as a leader is to develop other leaders, and the fact that this person is going to go on to a much bigger job and bigger opportunity, I had to say, don't treat tha as it's just happening to you.

Don't treat it as part of your leadership role is to create opportunity for people.

If I look at your resumé, what I see is that you are a you execute against, a plan.

You understand operationalizing, you understand the details.

And I think that may be your superpower to have that big picture thinking and then be able to make it a reality.

Does that ever tug on back and forth with you, or does it just fit really neatly?

Now?

I think I got to a place I've always worked in very large work places, with one exception.

I ran a nonprofit wit eight employees for two years.

I think it was the hardest job I ever had.

I agree with you, so I do.

I but I've mostly come from huge, huge hundreds of thousands, tens of thousands kind of organizations.

And yet it is a struggle t think my job is to set strategy.

My job is to be financially responsible, maybe to report to a board.

We have several boards her at Denver Health, for example.

My job is to motivate, at the same time, I can't be casual about details because I'm putting myself out publicly to affirm whatever it is that I'm recommending.

Let's say it's let's build a new building in such and such location.

Well, I need to understand how much does it cost?

What are the financial risks?

What are the opportunities?

And so, quite frankly, I succeed by havin that sort of big picture focus.

But the willingness to ask a lot of difficult questions, I don't need to get my hands into everything.

I have a great team and I've always had great teams and felt like my responsibility is building those teams.

Integrity is a huge factor in, the work that I do and the work that I've done, because there's so much intersection with the public.

And I often think is what I'm doing or wha we are doing as an organization.

Could it be a newspaper headline?

And what would the what would be the fallout if what we did was a newspaper headline?

And that becomes a little bit of a North Star that, you know, there's lots of people who have been brought down by silly things.

They accepted tickets to the Super Bowl, or maybe they cut corners and those, you know, the other expression, you know, it takes a lifetime to build a reputatio and one incident to destroy it.

And I believe me, that's always in my head.

So integrity of the organization and integrity of the leaders is a critical part of what I believe in.

So, Don, I want to ask you about a specific, instance at Denver Health.

Lots of financial, you know, obstacles and concerns and a ballot issue and went out to CU, and because of our Tabor la needs to go to the, the voters and it passed.

Tell me about that journey because you had to do a lot of work to make sure everybody understood how important this is.

No thanks.

And to CU, thanks to the voters in Denver has created some financial stability for Denver Health.

And that's really important, particularly where we're where we might be headed in the future.

The first thing that I did when I came here was one of the first things was to talk to other executives in my position around the country.

And the more I talked to them from Dallas, Houston, Indianapolis and other large cities where an urban safety net is important, the more I learned that their city or their county supported them in way that our city wasn't supporting Denver Health, there's a lot of history to that.

And, knowing that the city itself had limited resources, I started thinking, well, what else could I do?

And part of that was buildin a community of important people former elected officials, current elected officials, business leaders, nonprofit leaders, and actually posing the problem to them.

I kind of knew what the answer was, but I said, you first of all, we spent time telling them the breadth of what we do.

But let them work on possible solutions.

And so I had a wonderful group of about 30 community leaders who helped us problem solve and get us to the point wher we could make a recommendation.

We could go to the city council, we could get something on the ballot and then ultimately run a campaign.

And that process took a full year.

And I think what helped us pas the measure was the engagement of the community leaders, the endorsement of key community leaders, and a process where I didn't just say, I know the answer.

This is what we're going to do.

I listened, I learned from them, and then we turned it into a proposal.

Well thank you for taking the time.

You're welcome.

Thanks again.

That was Donna Lynn, the current CEO of Denver Health, which is Colorado's largest safety net hospital.

Our thanks again to Doctor Lynn for sharing her story at Denver Urban Gardens.

It's not just about what you can see growing, it's also about what you can touch, smell and hear to.

A sensory garden is designed to spark curiosity and awaken the senses.

We talk to Jungle Judy about it and get a closer look.

And so we've got another type of a garden that we started to do here at Denver Urban Gardens.

And this is recognizing that gardening is really important for food access.

We want to feed our bodies, but in order to kind of promote that feeling of whole body wellness, we also nee to feed our spirit in our soul.

So gardening to me appeals to what can you touch, what can you smell, what can you hear, what can you eat?

What can you feel?

All those things?

What can you use medicinally?

So my colleague Laura Forester has started a program her called Air Therapeutic Gardens.

And she has classes online o in person that people can take.

But what this garden is it appeals to people who learn in many different ways.

Ooh, children who might be living on the autism scale, people who might garden using a wheelchair, people who might have memory challenges, who just learn, who might be overstimulated.

So this provides a place that says a garden needs all of you.

And just like we were talking about turning over the leaves, it says, stay with me.

So it has pathways that really designate that are wide enough with repurposed materials.

These were aspen log that we use from another project that say, come and sit here, smell these flowers, which smell like licorice.

So a place of calming.

We have caseworker who are working with students.

They can come out and sit down here and say oh, I planted this just for you.

Feel this.

So if anybody is feeling stressed, they can feel the softnes of this silver mound Artemisia.

They can say, this almost looks like the comb of a rooster.

And you can do flower crafts for children later on, or studies that you can do crafts with.

So I love this concept.

You know, it work well for everybody, little guys, seniors, people that are experiencing different challenges or people that just want to know.

In addition to the citronella, which repels mosquitoes, which feel so good.

I just want to come here after work.

We are trying to incorporate sensory gardens or sensory techniques into everything that we do to welcome people to a whole palette of gardening experience, which heals.

For more information and resources about gardening, you can go to drug.org Colorado, the City of Denver and the Federal government remain divided on immigration policies, even as federal officials continue to pressure local governments to comply.

Let's check in with Kyle Dyer for some perspectives from our panel on Colorado Inside Out.

Hi.

You know, Denver and Colorado remain in the hot seat.

The federal government wants the city and the state to get rid of laws that say how involved local police can be with Ice agents who are looking for people who are here illegally.

Let's listen in to the perspectives that were discussed around the table on Colorado.

Inside out.

Denver's financial problem follow a lot of years of a lot of spending, including around, what, $350 million spent since the end of 2022 on helping migrants who showed up here in the city with nowhere to go.

Our city's welcoming nature has not only gotten us in trouble financially, but also with the federal government.

This week, a report came out that immigration arrests have quintupled in Denver.

And Attorney General Pam Bond placed another warning on Denver and the state of Colorado to roll back the laws that keep local law enforcement from working hand in hand at all times with Ice officers.

Or else the quote was, we will come after you.

And to that, local leaders are saying we're not budging.

So let's start with you.

Well, Pam Bondi said that the federal government will withhold funds if 11 states don't respond by sayin we will comply with federal law.

Our governor, Jared Polis, responded by saying, we're not a sanctuary state.

What are you saying?

How are we not a sanctuary state?

We have state and local law enforcement are not allowed to hold people on immigration status.

We have local law enforcement not, able to share information on immigration status.

And we have no agreements with Ice to hold people based on immigration status.

So when we don't have any kind of agreement or cooperation with wha the federal government is doing, then I don't think that we can make this the case that we're not a sanctuary state.

So I'm not quite sure what will happen, but we will see.

Yeah, it'll be interesting.

Laura.

Well, I think, Aggie Bondi, her her use of extortion as a way to govern a democracy is, is problematic.

By our laws, we have decided how we're going to, police and how we are going to relate to the federal government in terms of immigration.

I think and then starting in July, we began to see that ice, detentions were, have increase for those populations that have not yet had a final decision on, on their cases.

And so does that mean that that Ice has already gone through all the criminals, all those with outstanding warrants for arrests and now they're just picking up anybody who doesn't look American, which I would say in their eyes is probably people who are brown or black.

And so I to me that is clearly racial discrimination.

And I think, I think there's a lot of fear in our, in the Latino community around that, on that issue.

Patty, we can't backtrack o what happened with the migrants when they came to Denver.

I mean, I guess we could hav just sent them all back to Texas when they were bust up here, which would have just moved the problem to someone else.

But we did become a welcoming city, whether or not it was a sanctuary city.

The response was due on Tuesday to Pam Bondi, who certainly is a genius legal person.

So everyone sent back the legal, their responses, the mayor, the state.

What's also interesting is there's really no lega definition for sanctuary city.

So it's just kind o whoever you want to say is one, we've proclaimed sanctuary at certain times when people go into churches but it's not a legal definition for governments, and that' something we have to remember.

We also have to remember we don't have police.

Their first job is not to monitor who's crossing the border.

That's not what a municipal police department does.

They fight crime.

They work for safety in their city or the municipality.

So if ISIS isn't doing its job, that's a different thing.

We should worry about traffic and burglary and all the other things the police here to handle.

If they find someone who' in the files, who is a criminal who's evading ice, that's a different issue.

Shame on on on Bondi.

I mean, how many of these Republicans carry a pocket constitution an apparently never glance at it?

There's something called the 10th amendment.

The 10th amendment says anything that is not specifically in the Constitution, that the federal government is supposed to do, that those those things go to the states and local law enforcement.

Including ho immigrants are handled by local law enforcement is a state prerogative, period.

They have absolutely no right to tell states what they're going to do.

And, you know, should police work with Ice?

I think that's something that should be discussed by legislators.

And determined there.

But there's reasons for the way Colorado does things.

Could there be more communication with the feds?

Possibly.

But we want to also make sure that immigrants who are here illegally, who are victims of crime, still feel that they can approach the police.

I mean, think about it.

A woman who, you know, she may be here illegally, who was abused by a partner and feels that she cannot go to the police, is going to be continuously abused and possibly killed unless she can get justice and some alleviation for her situation.

So shame on Bondi.

And I also think that the ultimately the Supreme Court, as this moves its way up, will find that these 11 states are in the clear and are backed by the 10th amendment of the Constitution.

That is just one of four topics we discussed on the latest Colorado Inside Out.

You can watch the full episode anytime on PBS 12.org, or on the PBS passport app, or on our YouTube channel.

And Sio is also a podcast, which can be found on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

And it would be an easy thing to listen to while you're on the road heading somewhere for the Labor Day weekend.

Now, if you're staying at home this Friday, join us at eight here on PBS 12.

We're taking you to Southern Oregon now for a powerful short film that shows how fire, when used wisely, can actually heal the land.

Burning to heal tells the story of community members, landowners, and firefighters who are using prescribed burns to recover from devastating wildfires an to protect against the next one.

And while this story is rooted in Oregon, its message hits pretty close to home.

Here in Colorado.

Alread this season, massive wildfires have scorched over 200,000 acre in our state, forcing new fire restrictions and testing communities from the Western Slope to the Front Range.

As we ente the height of wildfire season, the lessons from this fil feel even more urgent than ever.

It's really important to understand that fire is in our future how we deal with that reality.

That's an emotional process.

It's also an educational process.

And, you know, with th broadcast burning, we're doing.

It can also be an experiential process.

I think that one of the benefits of doing community led broadcast burns, prescribe burns is the ability to reclaim what fire means for people.

You know, now, with the wa that the fire crisis is going, a lot of people are looking for answers and trying to figure out how they can make their communitie safer, make the land healthier.

This is about community empowerment.

It's about a community making decisions for itself, for the kind of future that it wants.

Living with fire.

We're in southern Orego for us here on the road Valley.

When we think of fire, often the first thing we think about is how many homes we lost in 2020.

It had been a red flag day all over the state.

There was a lot of loss that day.

There were over 2500 homes burned.

The majority of the affordable housing in our valley were wiped out in a single day.

My family was evacuated.

I was off duty but went down to help, as did virtually everybody in my department.

I ended u working that night on my road.

So the fire line was my road, where my house is.

It's challenging even now you know, to, work through the the social impacts, you know on the schools, the community.

So it was a huge impact here, and really reshaped and redefined how we deal with the entire community sense.

I think both personall and professionally, the silver lining with the Almeda fire is that it raised awareness of the risks in our area, in our state.

I think for a lot of people, that was a really traumatizing event, of course, and it's led to a lot of thinking about what can we do to avoid that.

How can we move forward, and have a different relationship with fire when it's not based on fear and waiting for the inevitable smoke plumes that are going to come in and July and August and Septembe and waiting for fires to happen, but instead we can re-envision our relationship with fire so that it looks something more like this.

Yeah.

It would b hard to, with a straight face, advocate for certain approaches to wildfire mitigation if we didn't have it, experience it ourselves.

I'm a rural landowner, and I figure I should go through it first so I know what I'm talking about.

When I recommend this kind of practice to another person myself.

This has been about a 12 year process, asking question about what the land might want, what the land might benefit from, and then asking with the new lens of okay, how do I, manage a forest?

How do I steward a forest?

And hopefully I'll be able to take that experience.

And that education that I've gleaned and you know pay it forward to my neighbors.

We've gone through and mechanically thinned, probably at 50 acres at this point.

Bringing back, fire is sort of one of the the final steps.

And, we're going to be doin a community led broadcast burn.

When I brought the Rogue Valley prescribed Burn Association, when I brought Aaron up here, he was like, well, this is ready to go.

And I was just really excited.

So you see, the mechanical fuel reduction didn't remove all the fine fuel that generally carry wildfire.

And so if a wildfire came through here now, it still could rage at a high intensity.

So using controlled burning to come through and consume the fine fuels helpe make this stand safer in future.

For long time, it's been difficult for people to do prescribed fire on private land.

You know, that's just the way it was.

Was fire belong to professionals only, and you neede to have expert qualifications.

And it made it seem like there was no role for the ordinary landowner community member to access this kind of knowledge, this kind of tool.

And so obviously, a landowner can't just do this by themselves.

It takes a village, it takes a whole community to make this happen.

So now we're helping to pu that back in the hands of people with the right skill, the right equipment, and following all the appropriate permitting processes and so on.

So who is here?

This is your first prescribed burn.

Oh.

Look around.

Nice.

Welcome.

Exciting.

One of the things that's really valuable about the prescribed burn association and the way that we've facilitate prescribed burns with bringing such a wide range of experience is just actual, genuine skill sharing where it's like, okay, you you live here, you live in this area.

Fire is part of where we live.

You've got to learn how it works.

Who's here to learn?

You?

Who's here to teach?

There's a trick question.

You should raise your hand both times.

All of you.

We all have something to share.

And we all have something to learn.

Generally, when we see flames, we're thinking about how best to stop them, you know, where do we put people, vehicles, water to put them out as quickly as possible?

In this case, it was a shift where I'm helping folks put fire on the ground to create a safer, more resilient, healthier environment.

And so for me, it was it was a shift, for sure.

But once we got underwa and, work through the process, it felt comfortable.

You know, a prescribed burn is essentially the opposite of a wildfire.

So when a wildfire starts, it's usually pushed by the wind or it's going upslope and it runs really fast.

And so what we're doing with a prescribed fire is we're doing the opposite.

We start it at the top of the hill, and then we're making i come down the slope bit by bit.

We're taking little chunks here, one after another, little strips until we get all the way to the bottom.

This was my first day on a prescribed burn, and coming from the suppression world, it was, an interesting shift in my thinking.

People are very cautious because there's a long term vision for this.

It's not worth taking any kind of risks.

There were moments when, you know, this suppression side of me wanted to do something about, you know, the heat of the fire.

I had to learn techniques on how to use the fire, you know, the drip torches to kind of control the amount of heat and where fire was actually going.

Somebody who it's their first day on a fire line.

Any kind of fire line are encouraged if they want to pick up a drip torch and guided by somebody who knows what they're doing, walk through a seven acre unit and, you know, strategicall lay a good fire on the ground.

And that's an very rare opportunity, which is something that's really specia and unique about this project.

This isn't the first time personally have used the torch.

I grew up on a reservatio and just using fire in this way, what I call a good fire.

I think a lot of my other Co who leads and other members being able to use the torch for the very first time in their whole life, just put a smile to my face and they were happy.

And that makes me happy.

When you see fir and you look at the landscape, you see what it is naturally consumed and it translates really well to structure, defense and making your home defensible, because then you're abl to see what fire would consume and you're able to cut that yourself.

It kind of demystifies the like, oh, for fire safety, we have to clear cut just straight up outright.

All the trees are the problem when it's like, no, it's because we've delved into suc a culture of repression for 100 years or so.

Being able to use all of this knowledge that we only had is knowledge we now have has experience.

This learning experience for them and me is beyond invaluable.

That was probably our biggest takeaway for the day.

Tucker was fortunate enough to get a large grant to get the mechanical fue reduction done on his property, so he didn't have to pay for all of it, but moving forward, all this brush is going to grow back.

But thankfully, because he had the prescribed burn association come out and do this burn, he can now maintain it much more economically than if you were to try and d mechanical fuel reduction again in the future, because it's unlikely that he would get a grant again in the future.

This whole area around us, the West Bear Project, has had millions of dollars of fuel reduction work done just recently, in the past few years, and so if prescribed burning is not used to maintain that work, the fuels are all going to grow back and all that money is going to have been wasted.

If you'r going to hire a contract crew, a mechanical fuel work is something in the 1600 to $2300 an acre range and control burning.

If you're hiring a contract crew would probably b in the $800,000 an acre range.

And the work we did today was in the, buy some soda and sandwiches for everybody who volunteer range and pay for the drip torches.

So it's a much more cost effective way to do this work as well.

This isn't a simple one step process.

People who were here first, the people who cam before us, have been using fire to their benefit for really ever for for time immemorial.

Right?

But I do want to make sur that we acknowledge and respect the fact that we are relearning what those people have been practicing.

We need to reevaluate our relationship to fire and learn ho we can actually do good with it.

A lot of people came ou here to see fire on the ground.

They wanted to take part.

What I sai is, I'm here to see community.

I'm here to see what the future coul look like when we work together as communities, as neighbors, agencies, fire departments, everybody working together to make this happen.

This isn't easy.

It took a lot of planning.

It took a lot of people agreeing that the vision of this communit is a realistic and responsible one, and I see happy people working together, getting to know each other, feeling a sense of accomplishment that they're going to go home tonight knowing that their community's a little bit safer and the landscape around them is a little bit healthier.

But everybody coming together behind this vision.

So that's the thin that really is inspiring to me.

The collaborative nature of controlled burning with a prescribed burn association is absolutely critical that we have partners that are involved.

Landowners can't do this on their own.

Community members can't do it on their own as providing water to us.

It's no big deal.

But to them it meant a lot.

So that's where coming together, you know, different groups, different agencies, different people.

Can really have huge benefits.

People should kind of work together to do it themselves and build this community cohesiveness.

That's really the goal of this.

And the prescribed bur association can actually spread to many prescriber associations.

We shouldn't have a rogue Valley prescriber in association with shared, have an Anderson Creek prescriber, an association, a Wagner Creek Prescriber association.

Each neighborhood should work togethe to protect their own community.

So that's kind of this democratization of prescribed burning so that we don't have to have big groups coming down to donate lots of money to do fuel reduction work for us every 15 years or 20 years because that's not sustainable.

We need to kind of take responsibility for it and have communities actually work towards this goal of community resilience on their own.

My hope is that in the future, what this landowner has done here and what the prescribed burn association has done, we'll expand or peopl will do what we did here today.

You know, I always think you should leave it better than you found it.

It took us years and years and decades and decades to get into where we are now.

With the wildfire risk in the Pacific Northwest, and it's going to take us years and years and decades and decades to get out of it.

I think that doing this kind of work is just one step in that really long process.

I'm hoping that when my kid comes of age and he's the steward of this land that I'll have left in a better place for him, you know, he can move forward and build off what I built.

If you're actively managing land and you're actively managing a forest, that work never stops It's not a one and done thing.

You have to continuously come back and ask and question to make the right choices for the land.

To find ou more about the current wildfires burning in Colorado, as well as fire prevention and mitigation information, go to DFP, c.colorado.gov.

That's the website for Colorado's Division of Fire Prevention and Control.

Up next on sounds on 29th.

Get ready for the borough.

This nine piece band has earned a reputation for their sweaty soul music.

Frontman Jonny Burrows combines his powerhouse vocal with horns for a unique sound.

The Burrows draws inspiratio from Stevie Wonder to Beyonce, and they bring a deep sense o community to every performance.

Here's one of those performances at Washington's music venue in Fort Collins.

Thanks for watching studio 12.

Be sure to follow u on social media and on YouTube, and we'll see you next Tuesday night at eight.

I'm bazi kanani.

Have a great week.

Three I got a brand new one.

And if you want, then I'll tell you what.

I mean, as I go.

And every da gets a little more complicated.

I'm figuring it out.

Still learning how to move.

I'm still trying to find my groove.

I may not have the day.

But you have to do the new.

Step by step.

Move.

And one.

I won't be just another trip around the shop.

I had to learn before I can run this new walk.

I ran for climax.

I need your help on this one.

Check it.

Step one.

Everybody have some fun.

Shout!

Hey on the to let me know.

Hey!

All right.

Went to music school.

Step two.

As you're learning what to do.

Shout hey, I' the three.

Let me hear you now.

Hey, that's pretty good.

Step three.

Hey, everybody!

Everybody shout it out on the phone.

Wait.

Step four.

If you want some more.

Then everybody shout it out.

Say I'm alive.

I'm alive.

I need something trying to beat.

Step by step.

Open my Bible.

Just another trip around the sun.

I got to learn before I can.

But I just knew I woke up.

One more time, yeah, yeah.

Everybody shout I'm alive, I'm alive, I'm alive.

I'm like yeah I'm done, I'm alive.

I'm still figuring it out.

I may not have my own struggles.

I might be looking strange.

But every.

I'm just trying to learn.

Like a baby who makes mistakes.

Time jump shot.

Step by step.

Oh, man.

One by one.

Just another trip around the sun.

I got to learn before I can run.

I just knew what.

New hope.

I knew about me.

All right, so tell.

Folks.

What?

Are the people.

PA pa pa pa pa pa pa!

I ain't a fucking ass!

I ain't a fuckin down.

No!

Fucking down!

Yo, that's not to tell.

I can't tell.

Can't tell.

I gotta get to know.

Take a look to.

Step by step on me.

One by one.

Just another trip around the shop tomorrow before I can run out of the store.

I'm in a new.

You and get good.

Get you?

You okay?

Yeah, yeah.

A lot of bands, either toxically or healthily, will be like.

Say that they're family, right?

Yeah.

So, but you all really seem like you are.

So if you were to compare your band to a famous family from fiction, what would it be?

Whoa.

A famous family from fiction?

Absolutely.

One.

Yeah yeah yeah yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

You know, the Brady Bunc is like a nice blended family.

I would say Bob's Burgers.

Oh, yeah.

Just like everyone's kind of wild and weird in their own ways.

But it all kind of it.

Yeah, that's also the glue The weirdness is also the glue.

I'm going to throw up a flag and say, I've worked all of this, have worke in a lot of aspects of the arts, and been in a lot of bands and projects, and I will plant my flag and say, I think we're pretty darn functional.

Yeah, it's been pretty healthy bands.

We like to be around each other.

We support each other musically.

We support each other outside of the band for sure.

Yeah.

I mean, I think for a lot of us, honestly, it's like the thing that ties us to the place that we live.

It's like the, like, the most important community in my life, really, for me.

So, yeah.

What is one of the ways that you feel like you really showed up for one another?

Like what?

Can you give us an example?

Because I don't think we get to hear a lot about that with band dynamics.

I have so many examples.

I mean, like I'm talking like band members coming over and building furniture for, for my kids and like, bringing each other food when we know we've been having, like, a rough week.

Yeah.

When both my kids were born, these two were the first peopl to, like, get it all assembled and get people giving us food, making sure we get sleep.

And, it's like true communal family like vibes all the way through.

I mean, you guys can probably think of way more than me.

Oh, yeah.

I mean, it's just like.

Like I literally talk to someone.

An event, like, honestly, like, most of the, like, every day, you know?

But.

And it's not just about, like, things that we're working on, like, like sending each other messages, like when I have, like, good news to share.

It's this group of peopl that's the first to hear about.

And I have bad news to share.

It's this group of people that's like the first to hear about it typically.

So.

You.

Know.