Spotting a Neighbor – At Last

For many years we have assumed that river otters make their home in our forests – but we have never seen one.  Until yesterday.

We were excited to get word from Jeremy Milton, the forest keeper in the Timber forest, that he and his daughter, Lauren, had the good fortune to watch a river otter run across the large logjam, just upstream of the Lousignont Creek bridge.  Is this a sign of successful restoration efforts (build it and they will come), or have they been part of the forest community all along?  Our hunch is that it is the latter.  We hope to see more and will keep our eyes open.

This reminds me of poet Mary Oliver’s advice that “our endless and proper work is to pay attention.”  .  Thank you Lauren and Jeremy for being out there and paying attention.