Wopasi Pazo: Sharing Findings from Looking at the Water & Writings on the Earth

Project Leader: Sierra Hicks (Cornell University)

Co-Leaders: Esmee Mulder (University of Colorado Boulder), Phil Two Eagle (Sicangu Lakota Treaty Council), Alicia Swimmer (Sicangu Lakota Treaty Council)

Wopasi Pazo is an Indigenous-led initiative creating a sovereign environmental data system for the Oceti Sakowin Oyate. Rooted in the teaching Mni Wiconi—“Water is Alive”—it protects the White River, Cheyenne River, Missouri River, and sacred Black Hills, all threatened by mining, pollution, climate change, and aquifer loss. For generations, Tribal Nations lacked fair access to environmental data. Wopasi Pazo changes this by building tribally governed systems grounded in Lakota knowledge and treaty rights, advancing data science, enabling everyday language queries, and strengthening Tribal capacity to use AI for justice, sovereignty, and ecological governance.