HELENA — Gov. Brian Schweitzer has tapped his long-time friend and former college roommate to run the state Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department.

Joe Maurier, who moved to Montana two years ago to head the State Parks Division within FWP, will replace Jeff Hagener, the former FWP director first appointed by Gov. Judy Martz in 2001.

Maurier has run Montana’s state parks system since February of 2006. Prior to that, he worked for 25 years with the Colorado state park system, leaving as deputy director in 2005.

Schweitzer and Maurier were roommates in the 1970s at Colorado State University. Maurier stayed at the governor’s mansion in 2006 when he was in Montana for his state parks job interview.

The announcement came Tuesday as Schweitzer announced another cabinet change.

Joan Miles, who took the helm at the Department of Public Health and Human Services, is leaving. She will be replaced by Anna Whiting Sorrell, the governor’s current policy advisor on families.

Both Maurier and Whiting Sorrell will take over as acting directors immediately.