CAP Project 1 – Nebraska Indian Community College (NICC) – Environmental Monitoring to enhance decision making across the Santee Sioux Nation – $9,497

There is a paucity of systematic and cataloged environmental observations across much of the Sovereign Nation’s lands, including the Santee Sioux Nation. The frequency of weather extremes, the pace of climate change impacts, and exposure to environmental hazards in this geography warrant local, autonomous, and culturally relevant datasets. Tracking current and emerging weather and climate events, provision of health and safety information and augmenting emergency management tools would all benefit from in-situ observations. This effort seeks to build upon past work at Nebraska Indian Community College, Office of Environmental Protection and Platte Basin Timelapse for enhanced environmental monitoring. Both above ground meteorological and below ground soil parameters, along with landscape visualizations, will be implemented as directed by the Nation. Ultimately, the work will inform decision-making for the community with increased resilience to weather and climate extremes and environmental data sovereignty rights.