Five and a half weeks ago, Maury Bedford was named acting refuge manager for St. Catherine Creek National Wildlife Refuge.

And with the new position came a lot of new duties.

&uot;I’m responsible for the day-to-day operations of the refuge,&uot; Bedford said. &uot;I’m also responsible for the supervision of personnel.&uot;

Bedford is also in charge of promoting the refuge to residents of the Miss-Lou.

Bedford ended up the acting refuge manager when his predecessor took a job slightly out of the Miss-Lou.

&uot;Jim Hall, the former manager, accepted a position in Alaska. The decision to make me acting manager was made by the regional office in Atlanta on Aug. 13,&uot; Bedford said.

Bedford held the position of assistant manager prior to Hall’s leaving. He accepted that position in July 1998.

Bedford worked for more than 10 years as a wildlife biologist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture in New York and Missouri.

Bedford’s new position is temporary, however. He said a new manager will likely be named in the next few months.