Comments due on trapping otters

PIERRE – The South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks Commission is giving the public until June 19 to comment on a draft management plan that would open the first-ever trapping season for the rare native river otter that was reintroduced to the state by the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe.

The state governor’s appointed wildlife commissioners recently dropped Lontra canadensis from South Dakota’s list of protected species, dismissing public comment that was all in favor of keeping safeguards established by its 1978 inclusion in the state’s first endangered and threatened list.

The Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe repopulated this playful semi-aquatic mammal to reservation jurisdiction in South Dakota in 1998-2000. Prized for its pelts, the once-abundant population had vanished due to unregulated take and habitat degradation during the early 20^th Century.

Inquiries to the Santee tribe’s wildlife agency and to game officials of several other Sioux tribes in South Dakota failed to raise responses. However, Lower Brule Sioux Tribal Department of Wildlife, Fish and Recreation Biologist Shaun Grassel said the state commissioners and their staff apparently have not consulted his tribe on the matter.

“I am not aware that we (the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe) have been contacted” by the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks (GFP) regarding state proposals to delist and allow trapping “or to inquire about how their actions might affect our current or future objectives regarding river otters. But that’s not surprising,” he told the Native Sun News Today.

The otter figures prominently in a Lakota creation narrative preserved by the Akta Lakota Museum & Cultural Center: It is one of four creatures who restored the land after a great flood.

In Nakota oral tradition, the otter earned a hardy winter coat as thanks from a crane whose chick it sheltered from the cold when it hatched too late in the season to migrate south for warmth.

Lakota akicita societies historically have been honored to include otter fur in their regalia.

During the state’s May 7 hearings on otter delisting and trapping, Cheyenne River Sioux tribal member and Grandmother Carla Rae Marshall testified on her opposition to delisting and trapping this year.

“Historically, river otters were, and still are, a sacred species for us as Lakota people, as well as for many indigenous nations in North America.  In the annals of Societies of the Plains Indians, the river otter is shown to be held in the highest esteem, with more than 40 references found throughout the documentation,” she said.

Also testifying, Rapid City resident Susan Braunstein thanked the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe for releasing 34 river otters along the Big Sioux River on tribal grounds in Moody County as part of a cultural goal to restore a native species to tribal lands.”

She asked: “Why should this beautiful, playful creature die when so much effort has been made to bring them back? Don’t we have enough animals that are being trapped or killed? Why should trappers have this much influence over GFP policies?”

She noted that the management plan is “specifically geared to give trappers another species to kill so they can profit from their skin.”

Immediately following these comments and supporting testimony from four other members of the public, the GFP Commission voted unanimously, 8-0, to reject the arguments, opting instead for its staff’s recommendations to remove protections for the otter and to design a trapping season for it.

The staff considers that the Santee Sioux Tribe’s initiative, aided by the otter’s listing as the state’s first threatened species, has resulted in “a conservation success story,” as noted in the proposed “South Dakota River Otter Management Plan, 2020-2029.”

Staff’s proposal, now open for comment, affirms that the hunting season will “enhance the quality of life for current and future generations by getting families outdoors.”

It also argues that “a statewide season will provide harvest information from across the state,” serving as “a monitoring effort that would be difficult to obtain otherwise.”

The GFP has no hard numbers on the otter population. It estimates less than 50 reports a year of its presence and says that it has received an average of 16.6 incidentally trapped otters in each of the last five years (2015-2019). Trappers are required to surrender this accidental catch, but no fines are levied.

The department proposes a maximum of 15 licenses during a Nov. 1-Dec. 31 initial otter trapping season in 2020. Again, incidental catch would not be motive for a fine.

Otters typically are caught by accident in beaver traps during that same season and die from drowning after being trapped in jaws of underwater cages.

“Allowing a limited level of harvest will allow better utilization of those river otter caught incidentally,” the proposed plan claims.

The season would be open statewide, unless arguments for prohibiting otter licenses from the Missouri River westward convince commissioners to modify the trapping proposal.

Those arguments are based on concerns over the comparatively fewer sightings and limited suitable habitat in West River, animal welfare, recreational interest, and economics.

Outdoor enthusiasts currently pay $130 per person for guided tours to view river otters, Rapid City career naturalist Christine Sandvik testified at a GFP Commission meeting June 4. By comparison, a furbearer trapping license brings in $30 of revenue to the state.

Other Rapid City commenters on May 7 agreed that the tourism economy would benefit more from observation than from hunting opportunities capped at 15 licenses. A number of states harbor operations where visitors pay to swim with otters and other types of educational encounters with them.

“It is time this agency realizes the majority of people want to see wildlife, not kill it,” testified Julie Anderson. If the otters’ population is increasing, the comeback should be cause for promoting hiking, biking and photography opportunities, she said.

“We love to see creatures in their natural habitat and oppose the killing,” said Sondra Seberger.

Jim Peterson noted that the otter’s conservation requires clean water, but the majority of its South Dakota habitat is increasingly polluted and in litigation for violation of the Clean Water Act. “I don’t think those things have been taken seriously in consideration” of the otter management plan, he said.

Nancy Hilding, president of the Prairie Hills Chapter of the National Audubon Society, submitted testimony advocating that the otter to be reintroduced to more of western South Dakota before it is targeted for trapping. Feasibility studies for such reintroduction have been done at least as far back as 2003.

Expert analysis performed for the GFP by Wayne E. Melquist, Ph.D. supports reintroduction in the Little White River at Crazy Horse Canyon on the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation, among other Western South Dakota locations that provide favorable habitat due to open water year-round.

Written comments on the plan can be sent to 523 E. Capitol Ave., Pierre, S.D. 57501, or emailed to OtterPlan@state.sd.us Comments must be received by June 19 and include your full name and city of residence.

Following the same rules, individuals also can provide written comments on the proposal by filling out an online form.

 

(Contact Talli Nauman at talli.nauman@gmail.com)

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