Description:
Luanne Johnson, a wildlife biologist, will talk about the natural history of coastal river otters inhabiting our watersheds and what we can do to help them. She is the featured speaker at the Oyster Pond Environmental Trusts Annual Meeting and the director of BiodiversityWorks, a Martha's Vineyard non-profit. 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 these charismatic animals 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 Marthas 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.
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