Over the past six years, the CU Boulder CIRES Environmental Data Science Innovation & Inclusion Lab (ESIIL), along with Earth Lab, has been cultivating a trust-based network to engage Tribal Nations-primarily through partnerships with Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), Tribal agencies, and Native community leaders in Environmental Data Science (EDS). Led by enrolled Tribal members and former TCU faculty James Rattling Leaf and Jim Sanovia, ESIIL's Tribal Engagement efforts began with collaboration through the American Indian Higher Consortium (AIHEC) and have since grown to include direct support for initiatives like the the Oglala Lakota College (OLC) USDA NIFA Data Cube project. These partnerships aim to address the longstanding exclusion of Native communities from the data revolution and to respectfully incorporate cultural protocols-such as teachings shared by Phil Two Eagle about the Wakinyan (Thunder Beings)-into data science practice. This work emerges in response to pressing environmental challenges such as climate stress and biodiversity loss, which threaten ecosystems and traditional lifeways. Indigenous communities like the Oceti Sakowin (Siouxan Nations: Dakota, Lakota, Nakota)-who maintain sovereignty over ancestral lands bring vital insight and authority to this space. However, a critical gap remains in applying EDS (Environmental Data Science) tools to traditional stewardship and land management roles. To bridge this gap, ESIIL supports the integration of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK)-a body of relational, land-based understanding rooted in language, practice, and place-with advanced analytical tools such as big data, AI, and cloud computing. By collaborating with Tribal partners in formalizing TEK as a data structure, ESIIL's approach supports culturally aligned decision-making and enhanced ecosystem monitoring while ensuring data efforts remain rooted in tribal governance. ESIIL also showcases the geographic and institutional reach of its Tribal engagement work using point and line density analysis, highlighting the scale and structure of collaboration across Indian Country. These visual analyses reveal active partnerships with 19 of the 37 TCUs nationwide thus far and 18 Tribal partners representing distinct Tribal Agency departments. This analysis assesses progress, guides further network expansion, and deepens relationships. Looking ahead, ESIIL aims to expand its Tribal engagement by developing a national, Inter-Tribal working group modeled in part on the Earth Lab Seminar series but centered around Indigenous frameworks, TEK, and TKP. This growing network represents a replicable model for ethical, community-rooted collaboration in STEM, aligning with NSF goals to broaden participation, strengthen community-based environmental resilience, and foster adaptive, data-informed governance that respects and reflects Tribal sovereignty.