BLM hires manager for Upper Missouri River Breaks

 GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) -- The Bureau of Land Management has tapped a U.S.
Forest Service recreation planner in Utah to be the new manager for the Upper
Missouri River Breaks National Monument.
   The Great Falls Tribune reported Monday  the BLM hired Michael Kania to replace
 Gary Slagel, who retired in June.
   Slagel had been the manager of the north-central Montana monument since it was
 created in 2001.
   Kania was the recreation planner for the Forest Service's Intermountain Region
 headquartered in Ogden, Utah. Before that, he was a district ranger in Alaska
and a staff officer on the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area.
   Kania and his family plan to live in Lewistown for his new job.