OTTER RESEARCH – Citizen Scientist Link

If you are reporting otter sign or observations please use the hyperlink above to do so.  Thank you for your time and energy on this project.

I am a southeast Alaskan transplant (from Juneau), where I grew up along the Lynn Canal and started my wildlife education as a deck hand on a commercial fishing boat (FV The Blue Zephyr).  During college I served as a research assistant out of Gustavus, Alaska conducting harbor seal, cow-calf population scans.  Upon completion of my B.S. in Zoology, I moved to Maui Hawai’i, and worked as a research naturalist for Pacific Whale Foundation before joining the Department of Psychology at  The University of Montana and earning my masters and doctorate in Comparative Behavior (i.e., Animal Behavior; Behavioral Neuroscience).

In the last two decades, I have enjoyed a career at Pacific University, in Forest Grove, as a Professor of Comparative Animal Behavior and Neuroscience.  I spend my professional time researching animal welfare among sea otter  (Enhydrus lutris) and North American river otter (Lontra canadensis) at the Oregon Zoo  or with students on Whidbey Island to research coastal behavior of wild river otter.

I live in McMinnville, Oregon on a homestead in the Willamette Valley, where my husband, Tom and I, are actively working to remove invasive species and restore the endemic fauna along Baker Creek. It is our hope to further nurture the fragile ecology for the property’s bobcats, cougar, coyotes, deer, owls, opossum, raccoons, and a myriad of other wildlife.  

The photos below are a plug for Ocean Futures, an experience I was privileged to contribute to as part of an Earthwatch service project, alongside Jean-Michel Cousteau, evaluating coral reef health and the impact of the crown-of-thorns on zooxanthellae in Fiji.

Even as a kid, I loved otters.