Bush Nominates Lower Colorado Region’s Director
President George W. Bush today nominated long-time Bureau of Reclamation
employee Robert W. (Bob) Johnson as the successor to John Keys III as
Commissioner of Reclamation.
Johnson is currently the Regional Director of the Bureau of Reclamation's
Lower Colorado Region, where he has served since 1995.
“Bob Johnson’s three decades of experience in managing major water issues
in the West and his outstanding leadership qualities make him an excellent
choice to lead the Bureau of Reclamation during this critical period,”
Interior Secretary Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said today in praising
Johnson’s nomination. “He brings all the essential tools we need to
continue to develop consensus solutions to the West’s diverse water supply
needs.”
Bob Stackhouse
(left, Central Valley Project Water Association) joins Bob Johnson (second
from left, newly-nominated Commissioner of Reclamation) along with Dan Keppen
(third from left, Family Farm Alliance Executive Director) and Dave Carlson
(Klamath Falls, Oregon) in touring Hoover Dam last week.
Boulder
Canyon
is in the background. Johnson is the
Bureau of Reclamation’s Lower Colorado Regional Director.
Johnson currently oversees Reclamation programs administered by offices
located in Phoenix and Yuma (ARIZONA); Boulder City (NEVADA); at Hoover Dam;
and in Temecula (CALIFORNIA). Reclamation operates and manages Hoover, Davis
and Parker Dams on the river, and oversees numerous other facilities
originally constructed by and still under Reclamation ownership throughout the
Regional area. Johnson also serves as Water Master of the Lower Colorado River
on behalf of the Secretary of the Interior.
A RECLAMATION EMPLOYEE since 1975, Johnson has held several
managerial positions in his career, in the Lower Colorado Region and
elsewhere. He began his Reclamation career at Reclamation's Mid-Pacific
Regional Office in Sacramento (CALIFORNIA), and later served in a management
position in the Office of the Commissioner in Washington (D.C.).
Johnson has received numerous awards during his career, including the
President's Meritorious Executive Award for superior accomplishment and
management of Federal programs. The award recognized his long-term
contributions in the management of water supplies for a multi-state and
international region served by the lower Colorado River.
Johnson is a graduate of the University of Nevada-Reno, with a Master of
Science degree in agriculture and resource economics. A native Nevadan,
Johnson is married and has two grown children.
Robert
Johnson
WESTERN WATER USERS praised the President’s choice.
“Robert Johnson will be a great Commissioner. He has had an outstanding and
honored career with the Bureau of Reclamation during which he has consistently
earned the respect of the water, power and environmental communities for his
vision, integrity and willingness to listen to all parties before making the
tough decisions,” said Robert Stackhouse (CALIFORNIA), Executive Director of
the Central Valley Project Water Association. “We look
forward to working with Commissioner Johnson in his new leadership role.”
Stackhouse and Johnson worked together near the beginning of Johnson’s
career when both were at Reclamation's Mid-Pacific Regional Office in
Sacramento.
On July 12, Stackhouse (who also serves on the Family Farm Alliance Advisory
Committee) and Alliance Executive Director Dan Keppen (OREGON) visited Hoover
Dam facilities, and were fortunate to have Johnson as their tour guide.
Keppen and Stackhouse were in Las Vegas attending Reclamation’s “Managing
for Excellence” public workshop, where the positive processes established by
Johnson and his staff to improve customer relations were pointed to as
potential successful templates that could be employed in other parts of the
West.
“RECLAMATION’S LOWER COLORADO River office works hand in
hand with water and power customers on budgetary and decision-making
matters,” Keppen noted. “Bob Johnson’s fingerprints are all over these
success stories, which we hope he can transmit to other parts of the west in
his new role as Commissioner of Reclamation.”
