Game & Parks hopes to reintroduce otters to Republican River

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

McCook Daily Gazette

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, Wildlife Division plans a meeting in McCook Tuesday, Oct. 7, to discuss reintroducing river otters in Southwest Nebraska.

Richard Nelson, wildlife biologist for Game and Parks Commission, said that river otters were once abundant in Nebraska including along the Republican River drainage, and throughout North America . In the early 1900s, river otters were extirpated in Nebraska by unregulated trapping.

In the past few years, Game and Parks Commission has successfully reintroduced river otters along the Platte, Niobrara, Cedar, Elkhorn and Loup rivers in Nebraska, Nelson said, and now Game and Parks is studying the possibility of reintroducing them in the Republican River Valley and on the Medicine and Red Willow creeks.

The informational meeting is free to the public and is scheduled at 7:30 p.m., in the 4-H Building on the Red Willow County fairgrounds, in the 1400 block of West Fifth in McCook.

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I think it is cool that the NGPC is willing to reintroduce a native species that people might not be familiar with. Once a species is gone from an area it is often because of habitat destruction, and if we are not careful we will lose such species as the greater prairie chicken, sharptailed grouse, mule deer and others from this area. Some of you may care more about how many acres you can farm than the welfare of these animals, but please think about future generations and not just your bank account and leave a little "wild" for the wildlife.

-- Posted by plainsman on Wed, Sep 24, 2008, at 5:04 PM

Dadgummit! That'll make hand fishing a lot trickier.

Jim

-- Posted by Jim Foster on Thu, Sep 25, 2008, at 9:40 PM