Valley Voices

This week features an interview, recorded in December, 2021, with Suzanne Roy, director of the American Wild Horse Campaign, about the state of wild horse management on the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act.

KDNK's Morgan Neely recently spoke with homegrown photographer Pete McBride. His photos and films have won awards, but the COVID-19 pandemic catalyzed somewhat of a personal transformation in how McBride views the world. His new book, Seeing Silence: the Beauty of the World's Most Quiet Places, chronicles McBride's interest in how the natural world communicates through the gaps in noise, and how difficult that's becoming on an increasingly noisy planet.

Laura Bartels, Director of The Mindful Life Program, and John Bruna, Co-Founder of The Way of Compassion Foundation in Carbondale discuss program additions and events for 2022.

KDNK's Morgan Neely talks with Carbondale athlete Joseph DeMoor, who is now part of the USA Track and Field Mountain Running Team. You can find more of the interview by clicking here.

Annie Perry, originally from the Roaring Fork Valley, is an attorney in Seattle. She is working on bringing an Afghani family into the US. She talks to KDNK's Amy Hadden Marsh about the complications and dangers facing the family.

Regina Lopez-Whiteskunk, former head councilwoman of the Ute Mountain Ute Nation, former co-chair of the Inter-Tribal Coalition on Bears Ears, and now cross-culture program manager for the Montezuma Land Conservancy, talks with Amy Hadden Marsh about the recent restoration of the boundaries of Bears Ears National Monument.

The Bureau of Land Management's controversial Sandwash Basin mustang roundup has come to an end except for horses outside the boundaries of the herd management area. Delia Malone of the Sierra Club and Eric Molvar of Western Watersheds Project talk about why the groups are against it.

amy@kdnk.org (Amy Hadden Marsh)

Aaron Taylor, director of Carbondale's Way of Compassion Foundation , talks about the 4th Annual Compassion Film Festival, opening Friday August 13.

Guests Elise Thatcher, CDOT's Region 3 Communications Manager, Eagle County Master Deputy Heath Mosness, and Sgt. Levy Burris of the Garfield County Sheriff's office talk about I70 mudslide closure safety protocol and who's handling Cottonwood Pass.

The late Northern Ute elder Clifford Duncan, friend to many in the Roaring Fork watershed, lived in Roosevelt, UT. KDNK's Amy Hadden Marsh traveled there in January, 2010 and brought back this conversation.

amy@kdnk.org (amarsh)

Larry Day's sketches appear in The Sopris Sun every week and will soon grace t-shirts and posters for the 50th Carbondale Mountain Fair. He joins Sopris Sun editor Raleigh Burleigh and host Amy Hadden Marsh to talk about his craft.

Suzanne Roy, Executive Director of the advocacy group American Wild Horse Campaign , joins KDNK's Amy Hadden Marsh on Valley Voices to talk about the current state of mustangs and burros in the American West.

Two bills, HB-1266 and SB 200, are putting environmental justice in front of state legislators. Beatriz Soto, director of Wilderness Workshop's Defiende Nuestra Tierra Program , talks about the bills and environmental injustice in the Roaring Fork and Colorado River valleys.

The KDNK News Team was part of a robust local media presence at Michael Francisco's March 8 hearing in Carbondale. Today's show features clips from interviews with the crowd outside the courtroom.

Valley Voices guest Aaron Taylor, director of the Way of Compassion Foundation in Carbondale, talks about a fundraiser for the 4th annual Compassion Film Fest, featuring a film about His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, and more. Click the headline for ticket and schedule information.

Award-winning, local author Dr. Nancy Bo Flood talks about her new book I Will Dance , her previous books , and life on the Navajo Nation.

In early January, 2021, Terra Energy Partners, which bought Ursa Resources after Ursa went bankrupt in September, 2020, abandoned plans for new natural gas operations inside the Battlement Mesa PUD. Battlement Mesa resident activists talk about what this means for the community.

Western Shoshone activist Carrie Dann died in early January. She was a powerful, anti-nuclear and Native land rights voice.

Will Grandbois has been editor of The Sopris Sun for four years. Now he's leaving and passes the torch to Raleigh Burleigh. KDNK's Amy Hadden Marsh talks with both of them - one by phone and the other in-studio - about editing a small town, local newspaper..

Gwichyaa Zhee Gwich’in Bernadette Demientieff is the executive director of Gwich’in Steering Committee in Fairbanks, Alaska. She talks to host Amy Hadden Marsh about how oil extraction in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge and the Coastal Plain will devastate Gwich’in culture and the sacred Caribou on which they depend.

On this edition of Valley Voices... a debate produced as part of Colorado Decides by PBS12, CBS4, and The Colorado Sun. Proposition 117 would establish a requirement of voter approval before the state can collect new enterprise funds of a certain size. Originally aired October 14 on KVNF's Local Motion . It has been edited for Valley Voices, with special thanks to Gavin Dahl.

John Bruna is the co-founder of Carbondale-based Way of Compassion Foundation and Mindful Life Program . His work in the recovery community is ever-growing, with mindfulness practices incorporated into many diffferent treatment modalities. His workbook The Essential Guidebook to Mindfulness in Recovery is now officially available. He joined Amy Hadden Marsh on Valley Voices recently to talk about how mindfulness compliments any recovery program.

The Grizzly Creek Fire has burned over 32,400 acres and is 91% contained but not before two Type 1 Incident Management Teams from the Great Basin and Alaska, swooped in to bring the blaze under control. Roads are beginning to open up but the Glenwood Canyon is still too dangerous to ride a bike or walk through or hang out at the rest areas. This week's show features a clip from the final, live Facebook update, held almost every other night for a month, by the leading team. The show also features two stories by the KDNK News Team from inside the fire perimeter.

Barbe Chambliss splits her time between Carbondale and Paonia, where she is an organic farmer. She is a psychotherapist and professional mediator, and has been working on her new book, Women Peacemakers: What We Can Learn from Them , for decades. The book was published in August. Chambliss was a guest on Valley Voices shortly thereafter to talk about the book and what it means to make peace.

Daniel Paul Nelson is the director of Lakota People's Law Project and talks with Amy Hadden Marsh about recent decisions on the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, South Dakota's response to Lakota COVID-19 checkpoints, and how they impact Native American sovereignty.

Author Gary Ferguson and Dr. Mary Clare were guests on Valley Voices on June 26, 2020 and the show was so popular, they agreed to continue the conversation. Today's show features Ferguson's new book The 8 Master Lessons of Nature and more about Full Ecology .

Author Gary Ferguson and Dr. Mary Clare talk about Ferguson's new book The 8 Master Lessons of Nature and their joint venture Full Ecology .

Since the death of George Floyd on May 25th, protests across the nation have spurred conversations about police brutality. Minneapolis may dismantle the police department, and the mayor of Los Angeles is canceling planned budget increases for that city’s department. But, policing looks different in small, rural communities. KDNK's Kathleen Shannon spoke with Carbondale Police Chief Gene Schilling and his soon-to-be replacement Lieutenant Kirk Wilson about the town's police department - it's past and future. Click on the headline to hear the 2-part conversation.

Today's show features clips from a Facebook webinar hosted by the City of Glenwood Springs and featuring Mayor Jonathan Godes and Rob Stein, Superintendent Roaring Fork School District. Click here for the entire bilingual forum , featuring Brianda Cervantes, School Community Organizer.

Jackie Skramstad, Clinical Operations Manager for Mind Springs Health , joins KDNK's Amy Hadden Marsh to talk about how the COVID-19 pandemic can effect mental health for the long run. For COVID-19 mental health support, call 877-519-7505.

This week's show features Shalmali Guttal, executive director of Focus on the Global South , on how COVID-19 is impacting India and refugees from a March 26, 2020 public meeting on Coronavirus, Capitalism, and Global Inequality , hosted by London-based Global Justice Now .

Suzanne Jackson and Jeanne Perry of local group Colorado Wild Public Lands talk about the proposed revisions to the 50-year old National Environmental Policy Act or NEPA and potential impacts to public lands. Click on the headline to find out more about the proposed changes and where to send comments.

Emmy Award-winning filmmaker, founder/director of the Cloud Foundation , and lifelong wild horse and burro advocate Ginger Kathrens returns to Valley Voices for an update on mustangs across the West.

Meghan Hurley Backofen is the Core Sexual Abuse Treatment Provider for the Garfield County Department of Human Services and works out of River Bridge Regional Center in Glenwood Springs. She will be presenting on this topic at Friday’s Human Trafficking Summit in Rifle.

Carbondale author and explorer Jon Waterman and host Amy Hadden Marsh talk about Jon's new book Atlas of the National Parks .

The Endocrine Disruption Exchange , founded in Paonia in 2003 by the late Dr. Theo Colborn, closes its doors this month. Today's show features clips from a 2012 interview with Dr. Colborn and KDNK reporter Ed Williams, and highlights from a recent TEDX tribute. The organization website remains active until 2022.

The Crystal River Caucus, one of nine caucuses in Pitkin County, turns 25 on October 25, 2019. John Emerick, caucus chair, Bill Argeros, vice-chair, and former Carbondale Mayor Stacey Bernot, now a member of the caucus board, join Amy Hadden Marsh for a conversation about the caucus system and what the CRC is up to.

Carbondale resident Dave Taylor talks about his recent trip to the Brazilian rainforest in search of jaguar.

Today's show features student speeches and comments from those who attended Carbondale's Climate Rally. What have you noticed about climate change?

Water officials across the West are talking about a Grand Bargain that would change the 1922 Colorado River Compact. For this week's Valley Voices, host Amy Hadden Marsh talks with Andy Mueller, director of the Colorado River Water Conservation District, to find out more about the deal.

Glenwood Springs Police Chief Terry Wilson is retiring in September after 35 years on the Force. KDNK's Amy Hadden Marsh talked with Chief Wilson, during a recent ride-along, about changes in Glenwood Springs and the highs and lows of a four-decade career in law enforcement.

Way of Compassion Foundation founder John Chopel Bruna and foundation director Aaron Taylor join host Amy Hadden Marsh to talk about the 2019 Compassion Film Festival and Symposium, which starts Friday at Carbondale's Third Street Center.

Reverend Shawna Foster, pastor of the Two Rivers Unitarian Universalist congregation, is leaving Carbondale for the Front Range. She sat down with KDNK's Amy Hadden Marsh for a farewell conversation.

The proposed Pebble Mine threatens the pristine watersheds, rivers, and wetlands of Alaska's Bristol Bay - home to the largest wild salmon runs on the planet. Today's guests are Nelli Williams, director of Trout Unlimited's Alaska Program, and Danielle Stickman, a Koyukon and Dena’ina Athabascan and the Network Coordinator for the Western Alaska Conservation Cooperative. They joined host Amy Hadden Marsh by phone from Anchorage to talk about why the proposed mine spells disaster for southwest Alaska.

WindWalkers executive director Gabrielle Greeves and host Amy Hadden Marsh talk about how horses help at-risk teens accept themselves and step out of harm's way.

Filmmaker James Knight was one of fifty people from around the US who participated in the 2019 Sacred Peace Walk from Las Vegas, NV to the Nevada National Security Site. In this week's Valley Voices, he talks to KDNK's Amy Hadden Marsh about his experiences as a longtime peace activist.

Natalie Mendoza, a post-doctoral research associate and history professor at CU Boulder, talks about her book Good Neighbor at Home: Mexican-American Identity and Civil Rights During World War II and her research into pan-americanism. She will talk about her book and research at the Glenwood Springs Library on April 24 at 6:30 pm.

Garfield County Commissioners recently rejected permanent protection of the Thompson Divide as stated in the proposed Colorado Outdoor Recreation Economy Act. But, some of their reasons aren't accurate. Scott Willoughby of Trout Unlimited and Will Roush of Wilderness Workshop join host Amy Hadden Marsh to do a little fact-checking.