WILDLIFE DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
WILDLIFE SPECIES: Lutra canadensis | River Otter 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
The river otter historically occurred over much of the North American
continent.  Present distribution of the river otter extends from 25
degrees N. in Florida to beyond 70 degrees N. in Alaska, and from
eastern Newfoundland to the Aleutian Islands [4].  River otters have
been extirpated or are rare in Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas,
Kentucky, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South
Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, and West Virginia.  They are still relatively
abundant along the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico,
throughout the Pacific Northwest and Great Lakes states, and across most
of Canada and Alaska.  Populations are listed as stable or increasing in
Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia,
Idaho, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota,
Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Oregon,
Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin [4].


ECOSYSTEMS : 
FRES10 White-red-jack pine
FRES11 Spruce-fir
FRES17 Elm-ash-cottonwood
FRES18 Maple-beech-birch
FRES19 Aspen-birch
FRES20 Douglas-fir
FRES21 Ponderosa pine
FRES22 Western white pine
FRES23 Fir-spruce
FRES28 Western hardwoods
FRES36 Mountain grasslands
FRES37 Mountain meadows
FRES41 Wet grasslands


STATES : 


    
AL
    
AK
	
AZ
    
AR
    
CA
    
CO
    
CT
    
DE
    
FL
    
GA


    
ID
    
IL
    
IN
    
IA
    
KS
    
KY
    
LA
    
ME
    
MD
    
MA


    
MI
    
MN
    
MS
    
MO
    
MT
    
NE
    
NV
    
NH
    
NJ
    
NM


    
NY
    
NC
    
ND
    
OH
    
OK
    
OR
    
PA
    
RI
    
SC
    
SD


    
TN
    
TX
    
UT
    
VT
    
VA
    
WA
    
WV
    
WI
    
WY






    
AB
    
BC
    
MB
    
NB
    
NF
    
NT
    
NS
    
ON
    
PE
    
PQ


    
SK
    
YK
    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    





BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
    1  Northern Pacific Border
    2  Cascade Mountains
    3  Southern Pacific Border
    4  Sierra Mountains
    5  Columbia Plateau
    6  Upper Basin and Range
    7  Lower Basin and Range
    8  Northern Rocky Mountains
    9  Middle Rocky Mountains
   10  Wyoming Basin
   11  Southern Rocky Mountains
   12  Colorado Plateau
   13  Rocky Mountain Piedmont
   14  Great Plains
   15  Black Hills Uplift
   16  Upper Missouri Basin and Broken Lands


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
   K005  Mixed conifer forest
   K011  Western ponderosa forest
   K012  Douglas-fir forest
   K015  Western spruce - fir forest
   K020  Spruce - fir - Douglas-fir forest
   K021  Southwestern spruce - fir forest
   K025  Alder - ash forest
   K026  Oregon oakwoods
   K028  Mosaic of K002 and K026
   K030  California oakwoods
   K047  Fescue - oatgrass
   K049  Tule marshes
   K050  Fescue - wheatgrass
   K051  Wheatgrass - bluegrass
   K063  Foothills prairie
   K073  Northern cordgrass prairie
   K078  Southern cordgrass prairie
   K080  Marl - everglades
   K092  Everglades
   K093  Great Lakes spruce - fir forest
   K094  Conifer bog
   K095  Great Lakes pine forest
   K096  Northeastern spruce - fir forest
   K097  Southeastern spruce - fir forest
   K098  Northern floodplain forest
   K101  Elm - ash forest
   K106  Northern hardwoods
   K107  Northern hardwoods - fir forest
   K108  Northern hardwoods - spruce forest


SAF COVER TYPES : 
    16  Aspen
    18  Paper birch
    19  Gray birch - red maple
    20  White pine - northern red oak - red maple
    24  Hemlock - yellow birch
    25  Sugar maple - beech - yellow birch
    30  Red spruce - yellow birch
    31  Red spruce - sugar maple - beech
    35  Paper birch - red spruce - balsam fir
    39  Black ash - American elm - red maple
    51  White pine - chestnut oak
    62  Silver maple - American elm
    93  Sugarberry - American elm - green ash
    95  Black willow
   202  White spruce - paper birch
   204  Black spruce
   203  Balsam poplar
   210  Interior Douglas-fir
   212  Western larch
   217  Aspen
   222  Black cottonwood - willow
   235  Cottonwood - willow
   241  Western live oak
   244  Pacific ponderosa pine - Douglas-fir
   245  Pacific ponderosa pine
   246  California black oak
   249  Canyon live oak
   252  Paper birch
   255  California coast live oak


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
River otters inhabit a variety of riparian plant communities.  These
communities are often dominated by willows (Salix spp.), cottonwoods
(Populus spp.), birches (Betula spp.), and spruce (Picea spp.).  Other
vegetation common in river otter habitats includes cattails (Typha
spp.), red-osier dogwood (Cornus sericea), black hawthorn (Crataegus
douglassi), common snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus), grasses, horsetails
(Equisetum spp.), bulrushes (Scirpus spp.), and sedges (Carex spp.)
[3,6,19].


REFERENCES : 
NO-ENTRY

Related categories for Wildlife Species: Lutra canadensis | River Otter