Brian J. Johnson

Brian Johnson is the Secretary of the Central Valley Flood Protection Board. He was appointed by Governor Newsom as the attorney member of the Board in January 2020 and reappointed in 2024. Through his tenure at the Board, Brian has been deeply engaged in the development of the Central Valley Flood Protection Plan and its Conservation Strategy.

Brian is a water and natural resources advisor at The Freestone Group LLC, which he founded. He worked for Trout Unlimited, the nation’s oldest and largest coldwater conservation organization, where he was Senior Policy Advisor for Western Water (2024-2025), California Director (2011-2024), and director of the California Water Program (2005-2011).

Brian has been a board member for the Klamath River Renewal Corporation since 2016. He worked as an attorney at the public interest law firm Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger from 2000 to 2005, representing local governments, tribal nations, and community groups on natural resource and land use law, permitting and CEQA, complex negotiations, and intergovernmental law.