CARSON CITY -- Gerry Lent of Reno, whose recent appointment to the Nevada Wildlife Commission upset some sportsmen and farmers' groups, has won the chairmanship of the panel on a 5-4 vote.

Commissioners, including Lent and three other new appointees named in late July by Gov. Jim Gibbons, also voted at a meeting Friday in Eureka to name commissioner and former Las Vegas Mayor Ron Lurie as vice chairman.

Gibbons named Lent, Thomas Cavin of Carson City and Michael McBeath of Las Vegas as the new sportsmen representatives on the nine-member board. Grant Preston Wallace, an alfalfa farmer in Dyer, was appointed as a farm representative.

All four newcomers, joined by Scott Raine, an existing commission member, voted to name Lent as chairman for the current fiscal year. He can seek a second term as chairman a year from now, but is limited to a total of two years in that position.

In naming the new members, Gibbons ignored conservation groups and county advisory boards across the state that had been lobbying for second terms for Jack Robb of Reno and Jim Jeffress of Lovelock, both sportsmen representatives.

Critics said the new appointments would shift the philosophical direction to one that focuses on mule deer as opposed to working to improve habitat to benefit all wildlife.

But some outdoorsmen have pushed for changes on the commission, arguing the state's priorities have been misdirected and should place more focus on maintaining big game herds to be hunted.

Robb is a former board member of the conservation group Nevada Bighorns Unlimited. Jeffress was a biologist with the Wildlife Department for 31 years before he retired. Both said they weren't contacted by Gibbons to discuss reappointment.

Wallace was appointed to replace Bevan Lister of Pioche despite letters from the Nevada Farm Bureau, with more than 1,300 members statewide, recommending that Lister be retained.

A Farm Bureau official expressed surprise at Lister's ouster. He said his group doesn't know of Wallace and would have liked more communication with the Gibbons administration.

The fourth vacancy on the commission occurred when Clint Bentley of Las Vegas said he didn't want another three-year appointment.