We will explore ways that diverse communities with connections to and history with the land can tell their stories their way. We will get to the hard questions if how to tell the tough stories as well as the inspiring ones, drawing from the experiences of our panel of culturally diverse partners as well as engaging attendees in sharing their experiences so that all of us can learn. Every story of the land is part of a continuum without a beginning or an end of tough stories, sad stories, easy stories and exciting stories, all of which are chapters in the bigger story about a place, its people, communities, cultures and natural history. One benefit of this session will be exploring ways to tell the tough stories in the context of, and part of, that continuum, not only to better inform each generation but as a form of healing .This process starts with building partnerships, listening, offering platforms, having patience and valuing the results. The panelists all work telling land-based stories from educational to archived digital audio content to mobile storytelling. The session will encourage audience discussion of developing these strategic story-seeking and storytelling skills.