A three-year $1.56 million grant will help the Siletz Indian tribe reintroduce southern sea otters to greater sections of the California and Oregon Coast. The grant was funded by the America the Beautiful Challenge program, and will help perpetuate the ongoing sea otter conservation efforts along the Pacific Coast.
From the brink of extinction
Sea otters have thick fur — up to a million hairs per square inch — to stay warm in the chilly waters of the Pacific Ocean. But this same fur almost led to their extinction.
For two centuries, sea otters were relentlessly hunted for their plush fur. By the early 1900s, there were no northern sea otters left along the coast of Washington and only about 50 southern sea otters left along the coast of California. In the 1970s the federal government intervened and instituted protections for the species.
Sea otter conservation
As conservation efforts began, 59 otters were captured from Alaska and released along the outer coast of the Olympic Peninsula. Since then, northern sea otter populations have continued to increase and have almost reached equilibrium, according to the Marine Mammal Commission.
The southern sea otter population, however, is still confined to a small section of the southern California coast. The new grant will seek to expand their range.
“This funding will enable us to build capacity and expertise to lead or participate in sea otter reintroduction and management and to elevate the role of coastal Indian Tribes in marine stewardship,” said Tribal Chairman Delores Pigsley of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians in a release.
The project will also focus on building support for sea otter reintroduction from coastal Tribes, ocean stakeholders and coastal communities in the region; completing key scientific studies; and conducting socio-economic assessments of potential reintroduction sites in the region.
“Sea otters are an ultra-keystone species because they don’t just maintain the habitat of the near shore ecosystem, they create that kelp forest habitat, which leads to abundance and diversity,” said Robert Kentta, elected member of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians’ tribal council and board member of the Elakha Alliance. “That’s always been recognized by our tribal stories.”
Where to see sea otters
The biggest national park populations of northern sea otters are in Alaska at Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve and Kenai Fjords National Park. They can also be spotted at Olympic National Park in Washington.
Currently, the only national park with a population of southern sea otters is Channel Islands National Park in California.
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