Reclamation History

 

Robert (Bob) W. Johnson, Commissioner,
Bureau of Reclamation, 2006 - 2009

Robert W. (Bob) Johnson was confirmed as Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation on September 30, 2006.

Born in Lovelock, Nevada, he was raised on a farm just outside that small community—a farm that received its irrigation water from a Reclamation project. A graduate of the University of Nevada, Reno, Johnson has bachelor's and Master's degrees in agriculture and resource economics.

After graduating at UNR, Johnson joined the Bureau of Reclamation in 1975 at Reclamation's Mid-Pacific Regional Office, in Sacramento, California. From Sacramento, he moved to Reclamation's Boulder City, Nevada, office, then on to Washington, D.C., where he served in a management position in the Commissioner's Office. He returned to Boulder City from Washington, first as the Chief of the Region's Water, Land, and Power Operations Division and then as the Deputy Regional Director before serving as Regional Director from 1995 to September 2006. As Regional Director of Reclamation's Lower Colorado Region, he served as "Water Master" of the lower Colorado River on behalf of the Secretary of the Interior until he was appointed Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation.

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