Evaluating habitat use and relative abundance of Iowa's river otter with harvest data

Abstract The North American river otter ( Lontra canadensis ) was extirpated from much of the United States in the early 20th century due to habitat loss, pollution of waterways, and overharvesting. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources began a river otter reintroduction effort in 1985, which placed otters in 14 sites across the state. Otters have since been known to occur in every county in Iowa and appear to have successfully repopulated their former range throughout the state. Our objective was to relate land cover characteristics and otter abundance using harvest data. We used data collected by agency staff to map the locations of otter harvest in Iowa from 2006 to 2016. We mapped otter harvest locations at the subwatershed level (also called 12‐digit Hydrologic Unit Code or HUC‐12). We related otter harvest to land cover variables and predicted otter abundance by land cover type. We found that roads, forests, larger waterways, and Ictaluridae (catfish) presence were negatively correlated with otter harvest. Variables positively correlated with otter harvest were areas with greater land cover diversity, wetland patch density, average stream density, and waterway and wetland areas. The land cover model predicted otters in equal or greater numbers than the harvest data in 62.8% of HUC‐12s. The areas of greatest otter abundance estimates were located near recreation areas and urban areas, indicating the underutilization of these heavy‐trafficked areas by trappers. Areas of fewer predicted otters were not concentrated in a single area of the state but occurred along the Interstate 80 corridor.