For over two decades, Ed Johnstone has taken on tough tasks in his leadership role with the Quinault Nation.

His next assignment could rank among the most challenging.

Johnstone has been elected chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, succeeding the late Swinomish Tribal Community leader Lorraine Loomis, who died in August.

Loomis and her predecessor, the late Billy Frank, Jr., were viewed by many in Indian Country as virtually irreplaceable given their decades of work on behalf of Pacific Northwest treaty tribes.

Johnstone, however, stands ready to assume the mantle.

A longtime Quinault fisheries policy spokesperson, he has vowed to carry on the work of Loomis and Frank in his new regional post.

“Being chosen to follow the footsteps left by Billy and Lorraine is a great honor and I take the responsibility seriously,” Johnstone said in an NWIFC press release issued last week. “Tribal leaders like Joe DeLaCruz, Billy and Lorraine knew when to step in to provide vision and leadership to inspire others to join hands in times of need.

“The challenges we face today are huge,” he added, “but are not insurmountable.”

Johnstone will serve the remainder of Loomis’ term, through May 2022.

He has extensive experience in management of salmon, steelhead, crab, clams, black cod and halibut. Johnstone has served as Quinault’s commissioner to the NWIFC since 2000 and as treasurer from 2009-2021. He also serves on the Southern Panel of the Pacific Salmon Commission and the Intergovernmental Policy Council, a forum of tribal and state co-managers of the ocean area that includes the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary.

Johnstone was a member of the Quinault Tribal Council from 1996-2002.

He said he well knows the breadth and depth of the challenges ahead.

“The treaty tribes of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission have responsibility to make tough decisions as stewards for the resource and to work with our state natural resources co-managers to protect fish for our children and their children,” he said.

“Fisheries management,” Johnstone noted, “has become more challenging every year with the ongoing loss of habitat, declining salmon runs and impacts of climate change.

Sometimes, it seems like we’re losing more than we’re gaining and we need to run just to try to keep up, but we have to keep fighting for those who don’t have a voice – the generations of fish and people still unborn.”

Headquartered in Olympia, with a satellite office in Burlington, the NWIFC serves the 20 treaty Indian tribes in western Washington that co-manage the region’s natural resources with the state of Washington.