32 2020 Annual Report
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Wildlife
R I V E R O T T E R I S A C O M E B A C K S T O R Y
The Commission de-listed the North American river otter from the state's Threatened list
in 2020. That completed a comeback story for a species that historically had been a well-
known resident of Nebraska's waters. It also is an example that species recovery is possible
when people work together.
River otters gradually were extirpated from our state in the early 1900s due to habitat
loss and unregulated overharvest. One otter, however, was caught inadvertently in a trap
near the Republican River in 1977 – a sign Nebraska could provide otter habitat again.
Game and Parks has the responsibility for protecting threatened and endangered species
under the Nebraska Nongame and Endangered Species Conservation Act. In 1986, otters
were listed as Endangered in Nebraska. Soon after, biologists began translocating otters
from other states and reintroducing them at seven Nebraska locations over six years. By
2000, substantial progress toward the species' recovery had been made, and Game and
Parks down-listed otters from Endangered to Threatened.
With otters now secure in Nebraska, in 2018 staff began the process to remove them
from the state Threatened list, which included public hearings and public comments before
the Commission's vote. Game and Parks recognizes regulations will be needed to recover
listed species and to keep the river otter's bleak history from repeating itself.
As part of a study, Lincoln graduate student Kent Fricke releases a river otter into a slough along the Platte River.
ERIC
FOWLER,
NEBRASKALAND
MAGAZINE
