This article was originally published by the Chesapeake Bay Journal, an award-winning nonprofit news organization that has been covering environmental issues in the Bay region for more than 30 years.
Four decades ago, populations of the river otter, a playful, whiskered member of the weasel family, were so depleted that most states in the Chesapeake Bay region considered them endangered.
Today, the species known for its fondness of clean water is turning up throughout the Bay watershed, including seemingly unlikely places…