Tribal Environmental Commitment

The speaker for the March 16 OKC Audubon meeting will be Leah Snyder, Environmental Specialist for the Fort Sill Chiricahua Warm Springs Apache Tribe in Apache, Oklahoma. Her topic will be Tribal Environmental Commitment: Past, Present, and Future and will include a survey of how tribal identity influences environmental commitment with emphasis on Fort Sill Apache environmental programs while highlighting other tribal environmental activities and success stories in Oklahoma and beyond.

Dr. Snyder’s environmental career has spanned a wide variety of projects all focused on the mitigation and recovery of impacted natural resources. Her experience in remediation of existing environmental hazards as well as managing water and air monitoring instrumentation for new hazard detection has led her to her current position as Environmental Specialist with the  Fort Sill Chiricahua Warm Springs Apache Tribe. Her technical skillset has been focused through the lens of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) to best serve the Fort Sill Apache community via environmental compliance, tribal service, community education/outreach, and environmental monitoring.

Although originally from Colorado (Chemistry BS, Biology BS), she fell in love with Oklahoma’s diverse ecological regions and rich tribal culture while expanding her education in Analytical Chemistry (MS) from Oklahoma State University followed by Environmental Science (PhD) from the University of Oklahoma. It is her mission to support data-driven decision making for sustainable development and natural resource conservation while helping to educate the next generation of environmental stewards. Projects have taken her to the Tar Creek Superfund site, destruction of the US Chemical Weapon Stockpile in Colorado and with Engineers without Borders in Bolivia.

Come out and enjoy the camaraderie and bring a friend.

Our meetings are held September through June on the third Monday of each month with the exception of January. Meetings begin at 7 p.m. Visitors are always welcome.

Meeting Location:

Our meetings are held at the Will Rogers Garden center, located at the intersection of NW 36th Street and I-44. The Oklahoma City Audubon Society is neither a chapter of, nor affiliated with, the National Audubon Society.