WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he will nominate a former executive at agribusiness giant Monsanto to head the Fish and Wildlife Service.
Aurelia Skipwith of Indiana is currently deputy assistant Interior secretary for fish, wildlife and parks.
A biologist and lawyer, Skipwith spent more than six years at Monsanto and has worked at the Agriculture Department and U.S. Agency for International Development.
The Fish and Wildlife Service has been without a Senate-approved director since Trump took office in January 2017.
Greg Sheehan, a former Utah official who served as deputy director for 14 months, stepped down in August. Under Sheehan's tenure as the senior political official, the agency proposed broad changes to rules governing protections for thousands of species and pushed for more hunting and fishing on federal lands.