River Otters Stage a Comeback in Bay Area

[KamaAina]

http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2016/03/11/river-otters-stage-a-comeback-in-bay-area

As winter rains swell Bay Area waterways, river otters are likely to be on the move. Go outside this weekend and you might see one.

“When creeks rise and there’s lots of water, they’re more likely to explore and search out new places,” says Megan Isadore, director of River Otter Ecology Project, based in Marin County.

The small, weasel-related aquatic mammals are making a comeback after almost totally disappearing from the region during the last century. Otter populations were decimated, first by trapping, then by pollution. Isadore believes the population has been rebounding under the radar for decades, aided by the banning of trapping in 1961 [PDF] and the U.S. Clean Water Act of 1972.

“We started to notice them more and more often in our creeks in Marin in the early 2000s,” says Isadore. “When we looked into what information there was on river otters in the Bay Area, we found that there was really no information.”

[villager]

1. Some rare good eco-news

Thanks for posting!

[tularetom]

2. Twas brillig and the slithy toves........

At least thats the image of a slithy tove that I've had ever since somebody read Jabberwocky to me as a kid.

[petronius]

3. Great news! I've seen them once or twice in the Delta, and they're

fun to watch. Glad the population is doing well...

[NV Whino]

4. We had some beavers in the Napa River with the flood control project

Rains have washed away their dam. I hope they return.

[Auggie]

6. They're in a creek about a 1/4 mile from us.

[NV Whino]

7. Oh, great!

[Auggie]

8. I believe these are the same guys who were washed out ...

when they rebuild (and one would expect them to) you can see their dam from a Soscal Avenue bridge just north of the new Chipotles in south Napa.

[NV Whino]

9. Yeah, I saw the dam before it was washed out.

[paulkienitz]

5. I've seen them -- there's a pair in my town's estuary