ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – New Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has named a former state Department of Fish and Game official to serve as the agency’s acting head.

The Anchorage Daily News reports the Republican governor’s office announced that Doug Vincent-Lang would enter the job about 90 minutes after Sam Cotten’s tenure as the department’s commissioner ended at noon Monday.

Vincent-Lang served as the director of the state Division of Wildlife Conservation under Republican Gov. Sean Parnell. In that role, he supported the state’s efforts to oppose federal protections for certain wildlife species.

Gov. Bill Walker’s administration dismissed him in 2015.

Vincent-Lang worked his way up in the department, serving as an area management biologist in Kenai during the 1990s and assistant director of the sportfish division in the early 2000s.

Information from: Anchorage Daily News, http://www.adn.com