Jeff Johnson
Boating Law Administrator, State of Alaska Office of Boating Safety.
A 36 year Alaska resident, Jeff is a native of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and a graduate of Michigan State University.
He began his career as a student intern ranger with Michigan State Parks, then with the U.S. Forest Service. He joined the Alaska Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation in 1981 as a commisioned state park ranger, managing numerous state parks in Southeast and the Kenai Peninsula. In 1984, he became the first ranger assigned to roadless Kachemak Bay State Park and State Wilderness Park, among the nation’s largest. He transferred to the Division’s central office in 1994 to manage recreation restoration projects in the aftermath of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. An experienced boat operator and marine safety instructor, it was then he developed the Division’s first powerboat operator training and certification program.
Jeff was named Alaska’s first official Boating Law Administrator in 1998. He worked closely with a coalition of partners including the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S Coast Guard Auxiliary, Alaska boating organizations, and legislators to draft the Alaska Boating Safety Act and to garner public and legislative support. When the Act was signed into law in May 2000, Alaska became the last state to establish a federally approved recreational boating safety program. Jeff manages the State Office of Boating Safety, the lead state agency in the Alaska Boating Safety Program.
Active in the professional boating safety community, Jeff has served as President of the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators and two term President of the Western States Boating Administrators Association. He has served on and chaired numerous NASBLA committees. He is a three term member of the National Boating Safety Advisory Council.
Jeff has received the U.S. Forest Service Merit Award, three commendations from the State of Alaska, three President’s Special Recognition Awards from the Western States Boating Administrators Assn, two U.S. Coast Guard Public Service Commendations, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Partnering for Excellence Award, and the National Association of State Boating Law Administrator’s William B. Garner National Boating Leadership and Herbert C. Bonner awards.
Jeff is life-long boater who also enjoys travel, cooking, fishing and motorcycling. He and his wife Donna live in Anchorage, Alaska.