Zinke taps Utahn for new post at US Fish & Wildlife Services

The man credited with shepherding Utah's wildlife agency for nearly five years — building the state's reputation as one of the best wildlife managers in the West — was tapped Monday by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to help lead the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Greg Sheehan will become the national agency's first deputy director in a newly created position and will serve as its acting director until a permanent director is named by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the Senate. Sheehan, who has been director of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources since 2012, brings 25 years of experience in the wildlife sector and natural resources to the position. He is also credited with helping to restore many fish and wildlife species in Utah to levels not seen in more than a century. An avid fisherman, hunter and aspiring wildlife photographer, Sheehan has been at the forefront of developing and promoting landscape-scale habitat restoration, wildlife fencing to reduce animal-vehicle collisions, underpass construction and translocation of big game species such as deer, bighorn sheep, bison and mountain goats. Under his leadership, the state's mule deer population has increased by more than 100,000 animals. Sheehan serves on the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Federal/State Joint Endangered Species Act reform task force, as chairman of the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies' Private Lands and Conservation Committee, and as chairman of Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies' Threatened and Endangered Policy Committee...more