The Marshall Fire was the most expensive fire in Colorado history. The Burn Scar is a tender yet carefully investigated podcast of one family, one fire and the hard choices people are making in the wake of increasing natural disasters. Hear the trailer now.

Filmmaker Ken Burns just released a new series called American Buffalo and The Modern West sat down to talk to him about it. He says it’s a very new direction for him. “This is a project we’ve been thinking about for more than 30 years – a biography of an animal.”

We’re re-sharing all of our bison episodes in preparation for the release of the new Ken Burns film, The American Buffalo! In Part III, we journey to the Fort Peck Reservation in Montana to learn why tribes there are rescuing wild Yellowstone bison… and we experience a bison release ceremony.

Did you know documentarian Ken Burns is coming out with a film on the American buffalo? I’m going to share my interview with him in a few weeks. Meanwhile, we’re re-releasing all of our bison episodes! In Part II: why American settlers chose to wipe out the bison and replace them with cattle.

Bringing Home the Buffalo…part one of our mini series Bison Stories. Find it under podcasts at wyomingpublicmedia.org.

As you might have noticed from previous episodes, Jeff is a committed skeptic. But still, I decide to start by asking Jeff, does he believe healing this history is even possible?

I wanted to be part of contributing to identify healing interventions for our community. And also sharing with people that knowledge, like, it's not all your fault.

It’s popular these days to read a land acknowledgement at public events, but Indigenous leaders and thinkers say that should only be the beginning — “a commitment that should be followed by action.” Like, returning the land itself.

Jeff and I pick up the conversation today where our last one left off. As the 19th century came to a close, the United States may have stopped direct battle with the Plains nations… but the war was far from over. As Native communities were forced onto reservations, the U.S. now used new techniques to attempt cultural genocide … alienating children from their communities at boarding schools and exterminating the bison. Throughout the conversation, Jeff points out the ways Indigenous...

Native American women are the most stalked, raped, murdered and exploited of any other race in this country.

That's the identity for our tribe is our buffalo. So they are our relatives. I always cry when they come. It's always really emotional when they come home. Because I believe that's going to heal our people.

This time on the Modern West…to make sure the Plains Indian Wars don’t flare up again, the U.S. army starts taking hostages…the tribes’ children. If they ran away, where would they go? They're 1000s of miles away from home. It was strategic on their part. It really isolated them. Killing the Indian Inside…it’s part four of our series Mending the Hoop.

It seemed important to share some of the behind the scenes conversations for this series. As a white woman reporting on Indian Country, Melodie always knew she would need extra guidance putting this season together. So she’s been regularly sitting down to talk with Oglala Lakota member and Native American historian Jeff Means to discuss best practices.

The Plains Tribes continue their winning streak at the Rosebud and Little Bighorn fights. But it only leads the federal government to crack down harder. Soon, many tribal leaders surrender and, in despair, take their people to live on tiny reservations. Then along comes a new ceremony: the Ghost Dance. And that changes the dynamics of the war drastically.

After the massacre, the survivors flee into the bitter cold night and eventually are rescued by the Lakota. The tribes form a great alliance and decide war is justified. And so, in the months after Sand Creek, what ensues is a series of battles that shocks and awes the U.S. army. Never before have they witnessed the full might of the greatest mounted horsemen in the world.

For the Arapaho and Cheyenne tribes, the Sand Creek Massacre of November 29, 1864 doesn’t feel like distant history at all. That’s the day that the Colorado cavalry tortured and killed over 200 people, mostly women, children, and elderly – one of the worst atrocities in U.S. history. To the tribes, it feels like there’s still a lot of healing to do. And so, these days, they’re working to do just that.

Recently, you may have noticed a lot of big news coming out of Indigenous America, from protests at Standing Rock to the return of wild bison to efforts to bring home ancestral remains and artifacts. But when you talk to the movers and shakers, the conversation often comes back around to a bitter history – the Plains Indian Wars. This season we hear the story from the point of view of the Plains tribes themselves. We discover how raw that story still is, and yet how communities are coming...

This time on The Modern West, we join an 1896 hunting expedition to America’s first national park. The journey reveals cracks in our concepts of Yellowstone, a place entangled with violence toward the Indigenous people who long took care of the region.

It's very important when you introduce a new technology, to make sure early adopters don't fail. And I want virtual fencing to work. It’s a bonus episode! Binge the whole season of the Great Individualist now. Find the Modern West under podcasts at wyomingpublicmedia.org. Sponsored by the Lor Foundation. Listen at themodernwest.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

Some think the cowboy has gone riding off into the sunset, never to return. But in our final episode, we hear stories of resilience and community pride. We return to Antonito, CO to hear how Aaron Abeyta started a school there to teach children that success doesn’t mean fleeing your hometown. It means staying to celebrate the unique heritage of the community.

Wyoming helped develop western water law, including the very idea that public waters belong to all of us. But the state’s reluctance to update its laws has left ranchers scrambling to protect their streams and wells, as drought and water hoarding make water scarcer than ever.