The Brown Bag series will host Twan Leenders on “Protecting the Greater Chautauqua Region's Lands and Waters for Our Community.”
The next session of the series is slated for Wednesday, April 1, at noon, in Williams Center Room S204-ABC at SUNY Fredonia.
Mr. Leenders serves as Director of Conservation for the Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy (CWC). In this presentation, Leenders will discuss how the watershed conservancy, a nationally accredited land trust, identifies, protects, and restores the region's ecologically most sensitive habitats — to ensure that endangered flora and fauna can survive, the landscape's climate resiliency and scenic beauty are protected, and access to nature is available to everyone.
Leenders is deeply committed to wildlife and habitat conservation. Originally from the Netherlands, he spent over a decade living and working in various parts of Central America before moving to the U.S. in 2000. A former researcher at Yale University's Peabody Museum of Natural History, a professor at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT, and Director of Science and Conservation at the Connecticut Audubon Society, he moved to western New York in 2012 to lead the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History. Since 2021, he has worked as Director of Conservation for the watershed conservancy.
The Brown Bag Series is chaired during the 2025-2026 academic year by Dr. Courtney Wigdahl-Perry of the Department of Biology, and committee members include Drs. Shahin Mehdipour Ataee from the Department of Computer and Information Sciences, Elizabeth Maher from the Department of Psychology, and Meghan Johnson from the Department of Mathematical Sciences.
The series acknowledges the support of Dr. J. Andy Karafa, who serves as Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and the Faculty Student Association funding for refreshments. Additional support is provided by the Carnahan Jackson Humanities Fund of the Fredonia College Foundation.
