Updated

The head of Utah's wildlife management division has been tapped as deputy director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a newly created position where he'll serve as acting head of the agency until a director is named and confirmed.

U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke appointed Utah Division of Wildlife Resources Director Greg Sheehan on Monday. The announcement comes a month after Zinke visited the contentious new Bears Ears National Monument, which was opposed by the Utah Wildlife Board. Zinke is reviewing the creation of Bears Ears and more than two dozen other monuments following an executive order from President Donald Trump.

Sheehan is a longtime hunter and fisherman who has worked for Utah's wildlife division for 25 years, five of them as director.