BLACKFEET ECO KNOWLEDGE
Our projects
Blackfeet Eco Knowledge develops community-led projects that connect land, language, culture, education, and technology. Each project is rooted in Blackfeet knowledge and designed to strengthen relationships between our people, our homelands, and the teachings that have sustained us for generations.
Knowledge is connected
Our projects may focus on different areas, but they are deeply connected. Land stewardship strengthens cultural knowledge. Language carries teachings. Cultural practices strengthen identity. Technology creates new ways to preserve and share knowledge.
Together, our projects support the continuation of Blackfeet ways of knowing while creating opportunities for future generations to learn, participate, and lead.
LAND
LANGUAGE
CULTURE
INNOVATION
The shield keeper project
LAND & STEWARDSHIP-Awo'ta'kaakiks
The Shield Keeper Project develops Blackfeet land and water stewards through a model that combines hands-on environmental work, Elder knowledge, community engagement, research, and education.
Shield Keepers spend time directly on Blackfeet homelands hiking, observing, documenting, monitoring, learning, and developing practical stewardship skills. Their work is grounded in Blackfeet values while also creating opportunities to engage with contemporary conservation tools, research, and policy.
40% Environmental- 20% Learning from elders- 20% Community outreach-20% research & education
Blackfoot Way of Life Project-Siksikaitsitapiiyssini
The Blackfoot Way of Life Project reconnects community members with Blackfeet teachings, practices, stories, values, and relationships to the land.
Through Elder knowledge, oral histories, hands-on activities, land-based learning, and cultural education, the project creates opportunities for people to experience Blackfeet ways of life rather than simply read about them.
Activities and curriculum explore teachings connected to topics such as traditional stories, birth and parenting, clothing and material culture, buffalo, traditional foods and medicines, tipi knowledge, arts, and other practices that strengthen Blackfeet identity.
LANGUAGE REVITALIZATION Project-Nitsii’poowahtsin
Language carries more than words—it carries our teachings, relationships, worldview, and ways of understanding the world. Blackfeet Eco Knowledge works to strengthen the use and transmission of the Blackfeet language by creating opportunities for community members to hear, learn, and use the language in everyday life. Our language work brings together fluent speakers, Elders, families, and learners through community education, cultural teachings, and accessible language resources.
One of these efforts is the Oyiss Blackfeet Language Project, which begins with babies in utero and continues through age three, surrounding children and their families with Blackfeet language during some of the earliest and most important years of development. Through projects like Oyiss and other community-based language initiatives, BEK is helping create spaces where Blackfeet language can be learned, spoken, shared, and carried forward to future generations.
XR Project
Blackfeet Eco Knowledge is exploring how virtual reality can help preserve, document, and share Blackfeet cultural knowledge in new ways.
In partnership with the University of Montana, the project uses immersive technology to create digital experiences connected to Blackfeet stories, cultural knowledge, landscapes, and material culture.
The goal is not to replace being on the land, learning from Elders, or participating in cultural practices. Instead, technology can provide another tool for documentation, education, and access—especially for future generations.
How our projects connect
Each project strengthens a different part of the same living system. Together, they support Blackfeet people in maintaining relationships with our land, language, culture, knowledge, and one another.
Shield keepers
Care for the land.
way of life
Carry the knowledge.
Language
VR
Carry the language.
Preserve & share in new ways.
Support the cause
Blackfeet Eco Knowledge's work is rooted in a responsibility to our people, our homelands, our language, and the generations still to come. Your support helps us continue creating opportunities for Blackfeet people to care for the land, learn from Elders and knowledge holders, strengthen our language, practice our ways of life, and develop new ways to preserve and share knowledge.
Every contribution helps sustain Blackfeet-led work and provides resources for the people, materials, education, community activities, and on-the-ground efforts that make these projects possible.
Frequency
One time
Monthly
Yearly
Amount
$50
$100
$200
$1,000