Justin W. Leonard award recipient Ellie Koon accepts the award from Michigan AFS Chapter President Todd Wills, during a recent combined meeting of the Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana chapters of the American Fisheries Society. - Photo by Robert Stuber, U.S. Forest Service.

Ellie Koon Smith, Ludington Biological Station, was honored with the Justin W. Leonard Award of Excellence at a recent combined meeting of the Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana chapters of the American Fisheries Society.

The award, sponsored by the Michigan Chapter of the American Fisheries Society,  recognizes outstanding professional competence and achievement of a professional employed in the field of fisheries or aquatic biology in Michigan. The award is named in honor of Dr. Justin W. Leonard (1909-1975), Professor of Natural Resources and Zoology, University of Michigan.

In placing Ellie into nomination for the award, the committee notes that her 34 year fisheries career, the majority of which has been with the Service’s Sea Lamprey Control Program, serves as a hallmark of professional contribution to fisheries in Michigan, and makes her truly deserving of this award.   

Ellie completed her undergraduate work at the University of Michigan in 1972 and for the next few years pursued coursework toward a Masters degree while working part-time as a research assistant for Dr. Frank F. Hooper and a teaching fellow for Dr. Justin Leonard.  In 1975 Ellie accepted employment at the University’s Zoology Museum Fish Division.  There she worked with curator of fishes, Dr. Reeve M. Baily as Collection Manager for several years before coming to the Fish and Wildlife Service in 1984. 

Ellie is an expert in the application of lampricides to lotic environments for the purpose of controlling sea lamprey larvae.  In her current role as Lead Treatment Biologist, she is responsible for the planning, delivery, and execution of stream treatments throughout the Great Lakes basin during annual April to October field seasons.  She advises the Great Lakes Fishery Commission on stream treatment matters through active participation on the Lampricide Control Task Force of the Sea Lamprey Integration Committee.  She is a critical leader in the Service and Commission’s work to protect the Great Lakes fishery valued at over $4 billion annually. 

From 1993 to 2002 Ellie served as the U.S. coordinator for the Great Lakes Fishery Commission’s sea lamprey barrier program.  In this capacity she was responsible for the development of the sea lamprey barrier program as an alternative form of sea lamprey control in Great Lakes tributaries.  At the time of her departure from this position, she oversaw the operation of 26 barriers in U.S. tributaries that were either constructed, or rehabilitated, to thwart sea lamprey migration.

Earlier in her sea lamprey career, Ellie served as a field biologist responsible for assessment of larval sea lamprey populations primarily in Great Lakes tributaries of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. 

Throughout her career, Ellie’s ability to work well with and treat people at all levels (fellow employees, personnel from other agencies, Great Lakes Fishery Commissioners) with respect is well known.  She is willing to listen to varying viewpoints on complex and sometimes controversial issues.  She is a consensus builder, getting people to focus on what they have in common rather than differences.  She works to develop friendships as well as business associations, making her professional relationships more productive and longer-lasting. 

Ellie has frequently accepted leadership roles in AFS at the chapter level, including serving as Michigan’s Secretary-Treasurer from 1998 to 2003, and has assisted in organizing numerous meetings and programs over the years.  She has also presented many papers on topics of sea lamprey management at annual parent society meetings, most recently in 2006 at Lake Placid, New York.