Saturday, March 23rd | Time TBD
FREE* public event, registration available soon
*Donations welcome
When the River Otter Ecology Project in California was offered the recent opportunity to choose two rivers across America to expand its popular community science program, co-founder and Director Megan Isadore, along with research partner FieldScope, chose the Verde River in Arizona — and our Elizabeth River. “We’re very interested in urban river otters. Their presence reminds us that wildlife can thrive in close proximity with densely populous areas, given the right circumstances,” Isadore said of her choice of the Elizabeth.
“A big predator coming back like that, on an urban river, is fabulous.”
We invite you to be on hand when Isadore, an otter ecologist, comes to town to lead Part I of a two-part introduction to Otter Spotters. Part I will be her crash course on the natural history of river otters, how to find them, and their importance as an indicator species of healthy rivers. Following the lecture, you get the opportunity to put your lessons to the test with an electric boat trip along the Lafayette branch of the river with Isadore and Dave Gibson, aquatic bird expert.
Part II, to be scheduled about a week later, will introduce you to FieldScope’s on-line platform for tracking and reporting our Elizabeth River otters. The program will be a partnership of the Elizabeth River Project, the River Otter Ecology Project and FieldScope.
For more information on the Ryan Resilience Series, please contact Luisa Black Ellis, lblack@elizabethriver.org, 757-399-7487. Visit elizabethriver.org for the latest updates.