Luanne Johnson, a wildlife biologist and director of BiodiversityWorks, a Martha's Vineyard non-profit, will present a talk on “You ‘otta Know about Your Otters”, about the natural history of coastal river otters inhabiting our watersheds and what you can do to help them. She is the featured speaker at the Oyster Pond Environmental Trust’s Annual Meeting. OPET is a non-profit dedicated to conserving and protecting the natural environment and ecological systems of Oyster Pond in Falmouth.
Luanne will show some of the amazing photographs and videos of the charismatic otters captured on wildlife cameras set up around the island.
In 2009, together with Liz Baldwin (Antioch University New England), and Chris Neill (MBL Ecosystems Center), they began the first monitoring and research project on coastal river otters (Lontra canadensis) inhabiting Martha’s and the Elizabeth Islands. They recently expanded their efforts to the Woods Hole and Falmouth area. They survey ponds, wetlands, and shoreline for otter tracks, scats, and trails to gather baseline data on the distribution of this top predator in our watersheds.
