Illustration by Sandbox Studio, Chicago with Steve Shanabruch Where science meets the sacred 04/20/21 By Brianna Barbu Sanford Underground Research Facility is making an effort to build bridges with Native American communities and operate with respect for the sacred land it is built on. The name of the Black Hills mountain range in western South Dakota is a translation of the name the Lakota (Sioux) gave the area: Paha Sapa, “hills that are black.” The description evokes the mountains’ dark-colored ponderosa pine. Nine federally recognized South Dakota tribes and 18 other land-based tribes have spiritual and cultural connections to the Black Hills.