A wild sea otter with its mouth wide open and staring into the camera floats on its back, wrapped up in bright green sea grass in the Elkhorn Slough wetland.

Sea otters: Back by pawpular demand!

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Once hunted to almost extinction, these ecosystem engineers are slowly making a comeback in California and transforming the coast along the way.

A map of the Pacific coast of North America from Oregon to the Baja Peninsula. On the map it highlights the small current range of southern sea otters from about Point Conception to just south of San Francisco in California, compared to their historic range from Seal Rock, Oregon to south of Guerrero Negro, Baja, Mexico.ALT

While their population and range are still a fraction of what it once was, where they have come back they’ve had a substantial positive impact on the recovery and resilience of nearshore ecosystems, like wetlands and kelp forests.

A raft of fuzzy brown sea otters float on their backs in the bright green sea grasses of Elkhorn Slough. Front and center are a mom and pup, asleep and snuggled in close to each otter.ALT

That, in turn, enables those ecosystems to lock up more atmospheric carbon and buffer coastal communities against sea level rise and stronger storms. Go, little fuzzy climate warriors, go!

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