MTNRC

Shane Gorder is a longtime Richland County Commissioner and community leader whose public service spans local government, infrastructure, and natural resource policy. He combines county leadership with small business and ranching experience rooted in eastern Montana.

Gorder has served as a Richland County Commissioner for 14 years and is an active voice in statewide and national policy forums. His leadership roles include service as MACo President and current past-president board member, membership on NACo’s Land Use & Energy Committee, and prior service on MACo’s Energy and Land Use Committees. He is also engaged in statewide infrastructure and natural resource policy as a member and past chairman of the Montana Infrastructure Coalition and as the current Natural Resource Vice-Chairman.

Alongside elected service, Gorder brings extensive private-sector and agricultural experience as a small business owner and rancher, running Gorder Trenching and the Gorder Ranch. His local and regional board work includes the Richland Economic Development board, Richland County Health Board, Active Richland County, the Richland County Steering Committee, and participation in the Richland County Republican Committee. He is also involved with industry and civic organizations such as the Montana Stockgrowers, Mon-Dak Stockgrowers, Mon-Dak API, and Kiwanis.

Gorder’s commitment to youth, sports, and community development is reflected in his long record of volunteer leadership. He serves as Montana State AAU Wrestling Chairman and National AAU Wrestling Vice-Chairman, sits on the Sidney Wrestling Club board, and is President of the Brodie Gorder Memorial Project. His involvement has also included work as a 4-H leader, graduation from the Sidney Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Sidney program, and completion of the L.T.A.P. “Road Scholar” training.

Born and raised in Sidney, Montana, Gorder’s life and career remain firmly anchored in Richland County. He and his wife, Lisa, have six children and nine grandchildren, and he is widely recognized for a strong commitment to his community, his county, and the state of Montana.

Miles Hutton is a Blaine County Commissioner and longtime rancher whose public service focuses on county governance, public lands, and federal land policy. His leadership is grounded in decades of experience in agriculture, outfitting, and the firearms business in rural Montana.

Hutton has served as the Blaine County Commissioner for District 3 since 2018 and is the current Chair of the County Commissioners. In this role, he has taken part in major county decisions, including votes on policy manual updates, employee salaries, and budget extensions. He was a key voice in the commission’s December 2021 resolution opposing the federal government’s 30 x 30 land preservation goal, raising concerns about water rights and the expansion of federal control over local lands.

In addition to his elected responsibilities, Hutton remains actively engaged in issues involving the U.S. Department of the Interior and public lands management. He works at the intersection of local government and federal policy, bringing practical on-the-ground knowledge as a rancher and outfitter to complex land-use debates. His background as a gun dealer adds further perspective on regulatory, economic, and cultural issues affecting rural communities.

Hutton currently serves as Secretary of the Montana Natural Resource Coalition, helping guide its efforts to support counties on natural resource, land use, and regulatory matters. In that capacity, he collaborates with other local leaders to strengthen county authority, protect private property and water rights, and promote responsible multiple use of public lands.

Hutton has been married to his wife, Linda, for 34 years. Together they raised three children, and his family life remains closely tied to the land, work, and community of Blaine County.

John Fahlgren is a Valley County Commissioner with decades of experience in range management, public lands, and agriculture. His background combines long-term public service with hands-on ranching and conservation leadership.

As a Valley County Commissioner since 2017, Fahlgren works to represent rural communities while balancing economic vitality with responsible natural resource stewardship. He is a founding director of MtNRC, serving as MtNRC President from 2023 to 2024. He serves on the MACo Public Lands Committee, where he contributes his technical range and grazing expertise to county and statewide policy discussions.

Fahlgren’s professional career spans thirty-three years with the Bureau of Land Management, beginning in 1974 and including posts in Salt Lake City, Lewistown, and Glasgow. His BLM highlights include serving as Lead Range Conservationist for the Prairie Potholes Grazing EIS, overseeing design, implementation, and monitoring of Allotment Management Plans on approximately one million acres in Valley County, contributing as a writer to the Washington Office Range Reform ’94 EIS, and managing the Glasgow Field Station from 1999 to 2007. He has also worked as a range management contractor on rangeland and riparian inventory projects across Montana, Idaho, and Utah, supported the National Resources Inventory for NRCS in central and eastern Montana, and provided private consulting for local ranches.

Beyond federal service, Fahlgren has been deeply engaged in production agriculture and conservation initiatives. He has operated Fahlgren Angus, a farm and ranch operation, since 1991. His experience includes cowboy and pen rider work for Page-Wittham Land and Cattle, sale-day work at Glasgow Stockyards, and service as Range Technician for the Montana Association of Conservation Districts’ Sage-grouse Initiative, where he developed grazing plans to support sage-grouse habitat.

Raised on a dairy farm near Hinsdale, Montana, Fahlgren earned a B.S. in Range Management from Montana State University in Bozeman in 1974 and served in the Army National Guard from 1970 to 1975. He is a proud father and grandfather, with six adult children, six grandchildren, four sons-in-law, and one daughter-in-law.

Mark Morse is a Yellowstone County Commissioner whose work focuses on public safety, mental health, and responsible county governance. His leadership draws on nearly four decades of law enforcement experience, agricultural management, and community involvement.

Morse has represented District 2 on the Yellowstone County Commission since 2022. He has prioritized addressing mental health challenges among inmates at the Yellowstone County Detention Facility, which led to broader initiatives to develop a Short-Term Detention Center for misdemeanor offenders and to plan for either expansion of the existing jail or construction of a new detention facility. He also serves as a member of the Montana Association of Counties, engaging in statewide discussions on county policy and operations.

Before his election, Morse built a lengthy career in law enforcement, retiring as a United States Postal Inspector with nearly 39 years of combined service. His experience includes 25 years as a U.S. Postal Inspector and 13 years as a Reserve Sheriff’s Deputy with the Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office. After retiring from law enforcement in 2009, he entered the private sector as a private investigator, specializing in workers’ compensation, insurance fraud, and white-collar crime, and managed a 60,000-acre irrigated and dryland farm in central Montana.

Morse was born and raised in upstate New York and earned a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the State University of New York at Albany. He moved to Montana in 1993 and later settled in Billings, where he helped centralize U.S. Postal Inspection Service operations in the city in 2001. His civic involvement includes support for the Billings Community Foundation and strong advocacy for economic development, particularly the TEDD industrial park in Lockwood, along with emphasizing local control over MetraPark as an important county asset.

Morse’s guiding values include supporting law enforcement, limiting government overreach, protecting gun rights, protecting agricultural producers (farmers/ranchers), and ensuring transparency through adherence to open meeting laws. Morse approaches county leadership with a focus on accountability and individual liberties. Outside of public office, he enjoys fly fishing, hiking and hunting. He is married to Teresa Darnielle-Morse, a retired financial planner, and together they are actively engaged in the Yellowstone County community.

Todd Devlin is a longtime Prairie County Commissioner and national leader on public lands, rural economies, and federal land policy. His work blends deep local experience as a fourth-generation rancher with high-level policy leadership.

As a Prairie County, Montana Commissioner for over 30 years, Devlin has focused on the unique challenges and opportunities facing public lands counties. At the national level, he has chaired the National Association of Counties’ Public Lands Steering Committee and now serves as Subcommittee Chair on Federal Land Payments, where he helps shape policy on funding and land management decisions that affect rural communities across the country. In 2021, he received NACo’s Dale Sowards Award for outstanding service to public lands counties at the local, state, and national levels.

Devlin is widely recognized for his expertise in the Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) and Secure Rural Schools (SRS) programs, which provide critical revenue to counties with large amounts of tax-exempt federal land. He authored the Small County PILT Parity Act and frequently testifies before Congress to advocate for county voices, including greater use of cooperating agency status in federal land management decisions such as Bureau of Land Management conservation rules. A strong proponent of the “multiple use” mandate under the Federal Land Policy Management Act, he works to ensure that ranching, recreation, and responsible resource development remain integral parts of federal land policy.

Beyond formal roles, Devlin is an active educator and coalition builder within NACo and the broader public lands community. He helps other county leaders understand how western public lands policies affect counties nationwide and contributes to the National Center for Public Lands Counties as a hub for best practices and shared solutions. Grounded by his experience as a fourth-generation rancher, Devlin brings both practical on-the-ground knowledge and seasoned policy insight to every aspect of his public service.

Contributor biography can be added here once final approved copy is provided.

Contributor biography can be added here once final approved copy is provided.

Contributor biography can be added here once final approved copy is provided.

Contributor biography can be added here once final approved copy is provided.