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Otters return to Rio Grande
Five river otters - a species once found in streams and rivers throughout New Mexico - were released last month on Taos Pueblo in the water of the Rio Pueblo de Taos.
The otters were trapped in Washington state under a reintroduction program that involves the pueblo, the state Department of Game and Fish, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the New Mexico Friends of River Otters, a coalition of citizens, agencies and conservation groups dedicated to bringing otters back to New Mexico.
River otters - highly social, playful, semi-aquatic members of the weasel family - are believed to have once inhabited the Gila, upper and middle Rio Grande, Mora, San Juan and Canadian river systems.
They were occasionally mentioned in the journals of early settlers, but there have been no confirmed sightings of river otters in the state since 1953. Their disappearance was blamed largely on decades of trapping and habitat loss.
A larger release of otters is scheduled on the Upper Rio Grande in November. The number depends on how many can be trapped, said Hans Stuart, a spokesman for the BLM in Santa Fe.
"We are so thrilled to see this species back in New Mexico," said Linda Rundell, state director for the BLM.
Game and Fish Director Bruce Thompson said protecting and restoring native wildlife is important to New Mexico's heritage and ecology.
"Today's release is a positive first step in an effort to return otters to watersheds across the state," he said.
And Melissa Savage of New Mexico Friends of River Otters said, "We are extremely excited that Taos Pueblo has taken the initiative to ensure that our playful furbearing friends are once again diving and swimming in the Upper Rio Grande watershed."
The state Game Commission in 2006 directed Game and Fish to begin efforts to restore otters. A department study identified several suitable sites in both the Rio Grande and Gila river basins.
Last year, the department, the BLM and New Mexico Friends of River Otters began working with Oregon to get otters for release in New Mexico. But the reintroduction was delayed because efforts to trap otters in Oregon were unsuccessful.
Twenty states, including New Mexico's neighbors of Arizona, Colorado and Utah, have successfully reintroduced river otters.
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