2023 Board Ballot

The CFC board of directors has nominated four outstanding candidates to fill open positions on the board: Daniel Kiely, Dustin Leftridge, Katrina Mullan, and Kim Snodgrass. In addition, current board members Brent Taylor and Wendy Morris are up for reelection.

The skills, qualities, and perspectives of the nominees listed below closely match the board’s selection criteria at this time. If you are a current CFC member* you are invited to vote in this board election. Please review the candidates’ biographies and submit your vote using the form below by 5:00 p.m. MST, February 27, 2023. You do not have to vote for each candidate.

The CFC board will tally votes and make a final decision at its annual business meeting on Wed., March 1, 2023 from 4:00–4:30 p.m. MST and is open to all Coalition members. Feel free to join us to share your thoughts, ideas, and questions!

*Membership status will be reviewed upon vote submission. If you have been an active member in the period from January 1, 2022 to present, you are eligible to vote in this board election.


Board members will be installed at the CFC’s Annual Business Meeting:
Wednesday, March 1, 2023
4:00 – 4:30 p.m. Business Meeting

Note:  Coalition members may submit names of possible future board candidates to CFC at any time.


Daniel Kiely is a financial advisor at Merrill Lynch in Missoula. He covered a lot of terrain to get here, having grown up in Birmingham, Alabama, attended DePauw University in Indiana, and traded commodities in Chicago. After a visit to see his freshly re-located mom and dad – a now-retired chemistry professor who taught at the University of Montana – Daniel and his wife, Kay, decided to leave the urban rush for a life around rivers. Daniel immediately began volunteering for CFC, leading the floating entourage during annual river cleanups, raising funds for program work, and recruiting members. He went on to serve on the CFC board from 2006 to 2012, then again from 2016 to 2021 and is eager to return for a third tour. A dedicated angler, Daniel spends free time exploring local rivers with his wife and college-age kids, and playing drums in a band.

I spend a large part of my free time on or around our local rivers. Of all the opportunities, I find myself going back time and again to the Clark Fork River. It is not the most scenic river. It does not have the most fish per mile. It doesn’t yet have the
 cleanest or the most pristine habitat. However, this river is at the center of my recreational life – it is my river. I go there for fun, hiking, fishing, and solace. The reason I want to serve again on the board of the Clark Fork Coalition is very simple. I want to do everything I can to preserve, enhance, and protect the places where my Montana experiences have been the most rewarding.


Dustin Leftridge grew up in the mountains of Western Montana and amongst the redwoods of the Pacific Northwest. His passion for the outdoors inspired his academic path into policy and law.

He attended The University of Montana for his undergraduate degrees in Geology and Political Science. There, he served as the president of the student body and the board chair of the Montana Public Interest Research Group. Dustin received his J.D. from the University of Montana School of Law where he served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Public Land and Resources Law Review and interned for the U.S. Forest Service.

During his summers, Dustin worked as a river guide throughout Montana and Idaho, where his admiration for wild places, such as the Middle Fork of the Salmon, inspired his career in conservation and public interest law.

Dustin is currently a partner at McGarvey Law in Kalispell and spends his summer weekends enjoying the rivers of the Flathead.

 


Wendy Morris is a practicing anesthesiologist in Missoula, Montana for the past 17 years. She is also a rancher and co-owns Oxbow Cattle Company with her husband Bart. Having grown up on a ranch in Northeastern Colorado and now ranching in Miller Creek, Wendy has a deep appreciation of the value of water resources for agriculture. As a fly-fisherman with a sincere respect for nature and ecosystems, she also understands the need to balance the multiple values and uses of our water. In her free time, Wendy enjoys fresh and saltwater fly-fishing, riding horses, roping, packing, reading and bird hunting.

“Since I moved to Missoula, some of my most enjoyable memories have been floating the rivers. As a landowner with Miller Creek running through my property, the bigger picture of utilization of water, habitat, and watershed health are part of my responsibility. Knowing the Clark Fork Coalition is working to protect recreational and agricultural opportunities as well as improve the entire watershed is exciting to me, and I look forward to learning and growing while serving on the coalition board. I believe some of the most important work we as a community can do is protect our water resources for all uses, not only for our time but in perpetuity.”  


Katrina Mullan is an environmental economist at the University of Montana. She teaches and conducts research on how environmental quality and access to natural amenities affect human health, agricultural productivity, and rural residential land development. Much of her work is interdisciplinary, involving collaboration with hydrologists, climate scientists, ecologists and public health researchers. Originally from the UK, Katrina arrived in Montana in 2012, drawn by the spectacular scenery and access to nature. She has made the most of the opportunities to hike, camp and canoe with her husband and two children, and is continually inspired to try new outdoor activities by her Missoula neighbors.

“My professional work involves quantifying the consequences of watershed management decisions for individuals and communities. I hope to support CFC’s crucial efforts in policy advocacy and community engagement by helping to demonstrate how the values of clean water, instream flows and habitat integrity for Western Montanans compare with the values of economic activities such as agriculture, mining or housing development, which may otherwise be prioritized in water policy and land use planning decisions. I believe that the preservation and restoration efforts of CFC bring substantial benefits for those living and working in the Clark Fork watershed, and that the science-based, and community- and stakeholder-engaged approaches are effective in realizing change.”


Kim Snodgrass is a middle school math and science teacher in Ramsay, MT. She enjoys the sparks of student learning, the day-to-day interaction with students and the ever-varied science fair projects. Kim earned a chemical engineering degree from The University of Michigan and a master’s degree in environmental engineering from Montana Tech.  Kim previously specialized in stormwater and floodplain projects while working for an engineering consulting firm in Butte for 13 years. Kim spends her free time skiing, backpacking and mountain biking across Montana with her son and partner.

I would like to serve on the CFC board as an educator and engineer from the Upper Clark Fork watershed. As an engineer in Butte, I worked with private, municipal, state and federal groups to discuss how specific regulations, permit discharge limits, and discharge practices affect water quality of Silver Bow Creek. I love southwest Montana and I want to protect our land and water for future generations. I am honored to be considered for this position and am drawn to the positive effects of the Clark Fork Coalition’s work.”


Brent Taylor is a vice president and retail banking manager at First Security Bank in Missoula. He didn’t have to travel too far to get here, being born in Missoula, then staying to study at the University of Montana. He started his banking career in 2008 after relocating to Portland, Oregon. It didn’t take long for him to start missing Montana so he found his way home in the spring of 2011. Not long after that he joined First Security Bank, a business that prides itself on being a community involved organization, which in turn inspired him to volunteer with several nonprofits including Montana Special Olympics and Home ReSource.

As a river enthusiast, Brent spends most of his free time around local rivers looking for fish or whitewater with his wife, Jess, daughters Juniper and Poppy, and their springer spaniel, Norman. When the weather isn’t conducive to river running they spend their time hiking and cross-country skiing. Mainly just checking out the snowpack in anticipation of spring…

“I spend the majority of my free time exploring our local rivers, with the Clark Fork watershed being the center of attention, whether it’s a day wade fishing Rock Creek, leisurely floating through town, or seeking some excitement on the Alberton Gorge. So it’s needless to say that I’m passionate about access and clean water. Because of this I’m very excited to continue my journey with the Clark Fork Coalition. I feel like my passion fits right in with the mission of the Coalition. I’m excited to keep working alongside the dedicated staff and board to continue protecting and restoring the Clark Fork River basin.”