Deadline to Comment on the draft “North American River Otter Action Plan, 2025-2029.”
May 23 @ 10:50 am - 10:59 pm
Deadline May 23 @ 10:59 pm MT, 11:59 CT
South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks (GFP) is seeking comments on the draft “North American River Otter Action Plan, 2025-2029.”
The River Otter Action Plan, 2025-2029, is a document that will be used by GFP to guide river otter management in South Dakota through identified management objectives and strategies to meet those management objectives.
The draft river otter action plan can be found here. https://gfp.sd.gov/…/River_Otter_Action_Plan_2025_2029…
Individuals interested in river otter management in South Dakota may provide suggestions and comments on the revised action plan by May 23, 2025. Written comments must be received by the deadline and include your full name and city of residence. Comments can be sent to 523 E. Capitol Ave., Pierre, S.D. 57501, or submitted online.
Normally SDGFP sets the deadline as midnight CT.
You will also be able to comment to the Commission for the June 5th Commission meeting. See our notice of June 5th-6th meeting at our web site’s events/deadlines calendar. https://phas-wsd.org/events-alerts/
The Commission will adopt the Plan at their June meeting.
The Commission meetings are hybrid and you can comment remotely by Zoom or in person for 3 minutes at the Open Forum , at about 2 pm in the time zone of the meeting on Thursday afternoons. You can send written comments by Sunday June 1st before midnight CT see our events calendar https://phas-wsd.org/events-alerts/
TALKING POINTS
Otters occur in SD East River and at mouths of tributaries to the Missouri River on the west side of the River. However the otters don’t make it to the far west perennial streams/rivers of SD, as there is a dearth of riparian habitat in good condition and during dry times, a lack of dependable water in rivers between the Missouri and further west streams.
Prairie Hills Audubon Society supports the reintroduction of river otters to western SD, which was not planned in earlier river otter management plans and is still not planned with this Action Plan
.
Between the Missouri River and the Black Hills the SDGFP must have a habitat protection/enhancement program to create healthy riparian habitat along the Cheyenne, Belle Fourche & Little White Rivers. It should have a program to encourage beaver dam analogs being built along tributaries to those rivers, to improve habitat for otters. River otters are strongly associated with beaver — the beaver dams create habitat and beaver dam analogs are imitation beaver dams.
The GFP would need to have a plan to reduce beaver trapping season from 12 months per year to 5 months per year in the counties that host a river otter reintroduction effort –that would be Nov 1st to March 31st, as river otters have babies in April.
GFP is likely to adopt a moratorium on beaver trapping in the Black Hills at their June Commission meeting, so also write in support of the moratorium for beaver hunting/trapping for the Black Hills area.
Please explain that watching otters is fun and SDGFP should provide for recreation of otters for wildlife watching, not just recreation of hunting/trapping.
Submit written comments here – https://gfp.sd.gov/forms/positions/