Michael S. Johnson

Mike Johnson is the Studies Section Chief at the USGS New Mexico Water Science Center.  Prior to joining USGS in 2016, Mike served as Chief of the Hydrology Bureau at the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer (NMOSE) for 10 years.  There he supervised the work of up to 10 hydrologists, one geographic information systems specialist, and one librarian, managed operations and budgets, developed technical policies, guidelines and regulations, and managed the agency library.  Prior to becoming chief, Mike spent seven years as a hydrologist with NMOSE, completing hydrologic evaluations of over 40 water rights applications in seven different groundwater basins around the state, and testifying as an expert witness in administrative hearings and district court.  Mike built groundwater flow models for water rights administration and water resource planning purposes in the Animas, Lordsburg and Silver City areas, and worked on or used such models in the Mimbres, Hueco, Jornada, and Lower Rio Grande Basins.  Before joining the NMOSE in 1999 he worked for the Navajo Nation as a hydrologist for seven years, executing hydrologic studies related to water rights and water supply on the Reservation, including one joint project with the USGS Utah Water Science Center published as USGS WRIR 99-4074.  Mike has a B.S. in Environmental Science/Geology from The Evergreen State College (1989), an M.S. in Geology from Eastern Washington University (1992), and is a registered Professional Geologist in Arizona (certificate no. 40162).