Who we are
The mission of Citizens for a Better Flathead is to foster citizen participation and champion sustainable solutions needed to keep the Flathead ecologically and economically healthy.
Since 1992, Citizens for a Better Flathead has been a leader at the forefront of addressing the challenges that rapid growth is bringing to our region. We work to protect the valley’s clean water, natural beauty, and friendly communities through solid planning and policy solutions.
What we do
- Protect water quality and quantity from inappropriate development
- Protect important agricultural lands from inappropriate development
- Advocate for updating local government policies— zoning, subdivision, growth policies, neighborhood plans, corridor plans, transportation plans— so that they:
- More strongly support sound planning
- Respect and reflect the wishes of the whole community with robust public participation
- Serve to enhance the well-being of the community, the environment, and future generations
- Advocate for policies that limit highway sprawl and traffic congestion in the Flathead
- Advocate for shopping locally and support for policies that support local businesses
- Advocate for waste reduction and recycling and educational programs for local schools
To learn more about the policy work that we do click here.
Our Board
Mayre Flowers, Co-Chair (West Valley) has been a driving force in CBF since its inception in 1992. She retired as CBF’s Executive Director in 2017 and is excited to have an opportunity to serve on CBF’s board now as the organization renews its focus on advocacy for land use planning and community organizing around these issues. Her knowledge of community planning tools and advocacy for the legal principles that support sound planning and meaningful public participation have made CBF a respected leadership voice on these issues in the Flathead. She recently established, CommUnity Consulting, a small consulting firm providing services and working for and with local residents, businesses, and property owners to secure sound planning for the Flathead’s future.
Diane Taylor-Mahnke, Secretary/ Treasurer (Whitefish) is a long time resident of the Flathead and a retired teacher and school librarian. She is a current or former member of multiple organizations, including 350 Glacier, the Northwest Reading Council, the United Church of Christ, Literacy Volunteers, and the Deer Park School Board. She is passionate about the need to do more to address climate change issues and sustainability locally and nationally. She was a former board member of Citizens for a Better Flathead serving from 2006-2014.
Susan Cahill, Board Co-Chair (Kalispell) moved to the Flathead from New York in 1976. She is a Physician Assistant and also holds a Masters in Social Work. Most of her career has focused on family practice and reproductive health, and most of her volunteer work as been in those areas. She has always had concern for our community and the planet and is a member of MEIC, MWA, Earth Justice, CBF, Foys to Blacktail, and others. She feels her contribution to the CBF Board is her tenacity and perseverance. She really wants CBF to remain a vital organization in our community.
Rod McIver, Board Member (Kalispell) brings a lifetime of interest and career background in natural history, ecology, forestry, and agriculture to our organization. He has served as a board member for a number of conservation organizations over the past decade including Montana Conservation Voters, Montana Environmental Information Center (MEIC) and Flathead Audubon. He was a former CBF Board Member from 2007-2015. Rod served as an Officer in the US Marine Corp Infantry during the Vietnam War and was a Purple Heart recipient. He is also part of the Retired US Forest Service Smoke Jumpers Trail Crew and spends several weeks each summer rebuilding trails. He sets up regularly at local farmers markets and his knowledge of fruit trees, from grafting to rare varieties he works to preserve, is remarkable. He is excited to be involved again as a board member and to contribute to the goals of CBF.
Linda Newgard, Board Member (West Valley) has lived and worked as a parent, teacher, and volunteer in the Flathead Valley for 26 years. Heeding the call of the mountains, lakes, and wildlife of the area, she settled in the West Valley of the Flathead with her husband and two children in 1995. She received a Bachelor’s degree in American Studies from UC Santa Cruz and Master’s degree in Education from Stanford. Her work in Kalispell has been at West Valley School and Flathead High. Growing up, she often visited her grandparents in Havre, MT and helped out during harvests on her uncle’s wheat farm in Kremlin. She has been involved in local efforts to preserve farmland in the West Valley, and has a vision that economic growth can evolve compatibly with the birds, wildlife, and residents that make the area their home. Hiking, cycling, gardening, and keeping up with her pets occupy her free time.
Dave Fischlowitz, Board Member, (Whitefish) grew up in Minneapolis and followed his heart westward to Portland for a Bachelor of Science at Lewis & Clark College. He then moved to Whitefish for a couple of years of ski bumming, which turned into a life of professional skiing and a work-life of diverting good materials from the landfill. After over ten years of alpine ski race coaching with the Flathead Valley Ski Education Foundation’s youth division, the number of families involved has gone from 12 to over 100. Dave operates a deconstruction, reclaimed building materials and glass recycling business which has diverted over a million pounds of construction materials in the past ten years and over 100,000 pounds of glass in the past four years from our local landfill. He recently completed a Master of Arts in Education from Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota. He enjoys hiking, biking, boating, and camping at the lakes and in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest with his wife, Krista and their daughter, Stella Bernice.