(KRON) -- Conservationists and wildlife researchers said a North American river otter was seen on the San Mateo County coast for the first time in more than a century.
The river otter was recorded by a remote wildlife camera at Cloverdale Ranch Open Space Preserve in Pescadero, marking the first documented return of the native species to the Pacific-facing side of the San Francisco Peninsula since the 1800s, Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District announced Monday.
Midpen said, "Historically, river otters ranged along the west coast of North America, from Alaska down to Santa Barbara County. However, the 19th-century fur trade and pollution decimated populations, creating severe geographic gaps in their historic habitats."
"If river otters are beginning to repopulate the San Mateo Coast, this marks another step in their recovery after going missing from much of the Bay Area in the early 1900s," Megan Isadore, executive director of River Otter Ecology Project, wrote in a statement.
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The rare otter sighting has ecological significance and shows how habitat preservation, watershed restoration, and land stewardship make a difference, biologists said. River otters only move into aquatic systems that are capable of supporting complex food webs.
"River otters can serve as vital bioindicators," said Midpen biologist Matt Sharp Chaney. "Their presence in Cloverdale Ranch Preserve and the reclamation of their historic range offers evidence of the species’ recovery post-fur trade in protected resilient landscapes."
