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Lucie Krivanek
Professor Joe Underhill
Environmental River Politics
Research Project
20 October 2014 – 22 November 2014
River Otter on the Mississippi
While paddling down the Mississippi River on our classes Environmental Politics
trip, we saw a lot of many different species. Bald eagles, great herons, egrets, mussels,
turtles, and many humans. When I saw these organisms, I really started thinking about
how they use the river as a home and how, in many ways, they use the river as a source of
survival. After we arrived back to Augsburg campus, I started looking into one of the
many species on the Mississippi River and one that also happens to be my favorite
animal, and very close to my heart; the river otter. After doing a little of digging, I found
that the river otter has been an endangered species and has a protectiontowards them
placed on society because of them being a scarce sighting on the Mississippi River. This
fact had me thinking about why they needed these protections on the river otter. What
impact does the river otter have on the river and why does mankind find it important to
help save the presence of the river otter? Is the way that the river otter uses the river as a
home and a source linked to these answers? So, first, I will talk about how the river otter
uses the river as a home and how it is a source of living for the otter. Then I will touch

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base on why the river otter is important to the ecosystem of the river, especially the
Mississippi River.
The way that river otters use the river as a home is they live fairly close to the
water’s edge so they can easily access the water for protection and/or food. The river
otter, even though it is an apex predator, is hunted by coyotes and wolves. The river otter
also uses the river as great source of life. It also provides a great playful and learning
environment for the entire otter family. When otters are born, they surprisingly do not
like water and cannot swim. The mother otter, after her young have reached a certain age,
will pick up her pups, no matter how much they kick and cry at her, and will carry them
to the water’s edge and drop them in the water. If they try to escape the new and strange
feeling of being in the water, she will drag them back in and cage them in the shallow
part of the water. Right then and there, she teaches her pups how to swim and teaches
them that the river holds a great environment for them to hunt, play, and stay safe. If you
look at one of the images I attached to this paper, there is a great picture of an otter’s
home. They typically live in dens right on the river’s shoreline and, over time; they build
a pathway that resembles a slide for them to access the river easily. Otters are also found
by many other water sources, for example, ponds and lakes. They also use these water
sources in the same way they use rivers; as a home and source of survival. There was
once a story my Grandmother told me about an otter she spotted on her lake up north by
Grand Rapids. My Grandmother was sitting on her dock, looking out at the lake – which
happens to be a protected lake, so it is very serene – and she happened to spot an otter

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swimming just off one the islands in the middle of the lake. My Grandmother then
happened to notice a bald eagle perched on a branch on one of the trees on the island the
otter was swimming by. The eagle had clearly spotted the otter and was waiting for the
right time to make its move. It eventually took off and started soaring over where the
otter was located and finally dived. At the last possible second, the otter ducked down
into the water and got away before the eagle could snatch him up. The eagle,
begrudgingly, went back to his perch and, low and behold, the otter popped right back up
where it had originally been. My Grandmother then told me, with complete and under
admiration and confusion, the otter came up from underwater and stared at the eagle; in a
way, mocking him. The eagle tried again to catch this punk otter for lunch, but again, the
otter ducked down just in time and would come back up when the eagle went back to his
perch. This story really describes how, even when faced with danger in a place where the
otter is supposedly save, the otter will make a playful game out of the danger. It is as if
the otter knows that, no matter where it goes, either on land or in the water, there will be
danger for it; so they might as well have fun with it.
While reading through multiple articles, I noticed that the articles really focused
on the otters presence and how having these little mammals on the river as very
important. After I sat and thought about why this might be the case, it hit me. They are
important because of the simple life cycle and food chain of their ecosystem. Otters eat
many living organisms in and on the river such as fish, amphibians, smaller mammals,
and even the mussel (Lewanski, September 20, 2011, Friends of the Mississippi River). I

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should even point out that, further on down the stretch of the Mississippi, down in the
New Orleans area, if an otter can locate and find an alligator small enough, and if the
otter thinks it can do it, it will attack and eat the alligator. The river otter, because of its
size, also serves as a food source to such predators as the coyote and wolf. If the river
otter were to suddenly not be a part of this ecosystem, there would be a dramatic shift in
the organisms the otters eat to a great abundance of them and the competiveness for the
species that hunt the otter will become overwhelming. But, we also see the issue of an
over abundance of river otters; this would cause the organisms they eat to drastically
reduce in population, which is also not desirable for the ecosystem. Because of this, the
government has allowed hunting for otters – their pelts are still very desirable because of
their softness – to help control the population of otters, but they also established a set
limit of otters that can be trapped so they can, again, control the population. This is
proven by Tom Lewanski’s article on the web page Friends of the Mississippi River, that
“due to trapping, loss of habitat and significant water pollution, these mammals were
nearly extinct in the Minnesota stretch of the Mississippi River by the 1950s” (Lewanski,
September 20, 2011, Friends of the Mississippi River). One of the reasons we really want
the river otter to remain a constant presence on the river is because of invasive species;
one in particular, the zebra mussel. In Calvin R, Fremling’s book Immortal River: The
Upper Mississippi in Ancient and Modern Times, he describes invasive species as
“exotic” species. “Many people think the work exotic means sexy, strangely beautiful, or
enticing. But in ecological circles it simply means animals and plants that are foreign, not

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native. With no natural predators to control them in their new environment, populations
of invading exotic species can “explode,” swiftly dominating habitats, and making
exotics a major cause of the continuing loss of biological diversity throughout the world”
(Fremling, 271). This was the same case with zebra mussels “native to the Caspian Sea
region of Asia” (Fremling, 272), on the Mississippi River. Because of how rapidly this
specie reproduces, we want river otters on the river to eat as many as they can. So, in a
way, we want to use as many river otters as possible to fight the infestation of zebra
mussels in the Mississippi River.
One can see now, that, due to a restoring of river habitat; I saw a lot of restoring of
water front along the Mississippi, that the river otter is making a great comeback.
Holdhusen’s article titled the Distribution of river otter within the Mississippi National
River and Recreation Area: Results from a two-year study of winter sign surveys, shows
that the sightings of river otters is up compared to the 1950s and are continuing to go up.
Another great reason why the otter population is going up, from a fact we learned about
in class; is that the river is much cleaner than it was in the 50s. The river used to be a
great dumping source for many industries and people living on it. Basically, the river was
a huge toilet of continuously flowing water full of trash, human sewage, and many
chemicals from plants and industries. With the cleaning up of the river and the many
Clean Water Act of 1972 which, according to Michael E. Kraft in his book,
Environmental Policy and Politics, is “mostly on “end-of-pipe” controls on municipal
and industrial discharges” (Kraft, 33), has allowed the river to rebounded to a great living

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location for many organisms; including the river otter. If you are wondering if the stretch
of river you live near is safe enough for you and you want to know if river otters are
present in your area, here are some clear signs. First, the obvious den with the pathway
into the water. These are very easy to spot because of the distinct pathway from the river
to the den; it will resemble a slide because of the otter’s long, low to the ground body
creating a slide like path. Another clear and obvious sign, are the otter’s foot prints.
Otter’s feet are webbed, unlike many other species found in its weasel family. The two
front feet resemble, shape wise, a cats print, but, an otter has five toes, including claw
marks. The back paws are seen as slightly longer, with extra padding on the back of the
print, and again, with five toes. One more sign is the broken and abandoned shells of
clams. Otters will use anything they can find, usually rocks, or, in the case of sea otters,
they will carry a special ‘Clam cracking’ rock in a hidden pouch on their abdomens for
whenever they find their next meal, they are ready to crack into it. These broken shells
can be found scattered along the rivers shore and all the way up the otter’s den. If you are
swimming in the water, you may find some open shells there too, for, otters are
multitalented and can swim, crack open dinner, and then eat it all at once. If these signs
are around the area of the river or other water source you are by, than the river is very
safe for your use as well.
So, we have learned that the river otter is very important to the balance of the
river’s ecosystem. Their population stays consistent due to species that hunt them and
humans trapping them. But, there are guidelines for hunting the river otter; a hunter can

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only trap a certain number of otters a season/year to make sure that the specie continues
to survive. River otters also have a great presence on the river. We have also learned why
it is politically right to have otters on the river. They help keep invasive species, like the
zebra mussel, from becoming too populated, by learning that they can be a new addition
to their diet. When you see otters on the river, you know that the water is clean enough
for you to be there as well. Their existence helps our existence, and both the human and
the river otter species are connected because of the river. It is a very important and fragile
connection that we, as people who live by and on the Mississippi River, do not want to
see broken. We never want to see the river fall back into the state it was in the 1950s;
intense water pollution, very little waterfront habitat or ecosystem, and very little river
otter sightings. The river’s ecosystem will never be complete without the river otter. It
offers that last sort of balance onto the major weighing scale that is the Mississippi River
ecosystem.

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Bibliography
Boyle, S. (2006, September 2). North American River Otter (Lontra
canadensis): A Technical Conservation Assessment. Retrieved October 20, 2014, from
http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/projects/scp/assessments/northamericanriverotter.pdf
Fremling, Calvin R. "Vital Strands in the River's Web of Life." In Immortal
River: The Upper Mississippi in Ancient and Modern times. Madison: University of
Wisconsin Press, 2005.
Holdhusen, A. (2011, July 1). Distribution of river otter (Lontra canadensis)
within the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area: Results from a two-year
study of winter sign surveys. Retrieved October 20, 2014, from
http://www.nps.gov/miss/naturescience/upload/MISS_Otter_2011.pdf

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Kraft, Michael E. "Judging the State of the Environment."
In Environmental Policy and Politics. 2nd ed. New York: Longman, 2001.
Lewanski, T. (2011, September 20). National Park Service confirms river
otters rebounding. Retrieved October 20, 2014, from
http://www.fmr.org/news/current/river_otters_rebounding-2011-09
McCormick, L. (2013, January 23). Speak up for River Otters in
Louisiana’s Mardi Gras Pass. Retrieved October 20, 2014, from
http://blog.nwf.org/2013/01/speak-up-for-river-otters-in-louisianas-mardi-gras-pass/
Olson, D. (2009, August 22). River otters return to Mississippi River in
Twin Cities. Retrieved October 20, 2014, from
http://www.northlandoutdoors.com/event/article/id/130907/publisher_ID/40/
Polechla, P. (n.d.). Action Plan for North American Otters. Retrieved
October 20, 2014, from https://portals.iucn.org/library/efiles/html/Otter/13.html
River Otter Basic Facts. (n.d.). Retrieved October 20, 2014, from
http://www.macalester.edu/academics/environmentalstudies/threerivers/studentprojects/L
akesStreamsRiversFall09/RiverOtterWeb/RiverOtterBasicFacts.html
River Otter: Minnesota DNR. (n.d.). Retrieved October 20, 2014, from
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/mammals/riverotter.html
United States. National Park Service. (2014, October 16). River Otter
Overview. Retrieved October 20, 2014, from
http://www.nps.gov/miss/naturescience/otterover.htm

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