River Otter Spotted at Money Point!

The river otter is our "poster animal," chosen to track our progress -- it does not show up in heavily polluted waters. Today, our team saw a river otter at Money Point, on the southern branch of the Elizabeth! Elizabeth River Project scientist Dave Koubsky was there with two engineers from AECOM, the design firm for our cleanup, helping oversee the Phase 2 construction. Dave reports the otter "was swimming in the new wetland," created by ERP and the Trust on land donated by Elizabeth River Terminals -- adjacent to our Phase 1 cleanup area.

Dave says that was just part of the teeming new life that he and his colleagues observed today. "At the same time, the osprey was out fishing, the egrets were coming into fish, and there was an army of fiddler crabs underfoot." As the tide rolled into the new wetland, schools of tiny minnows followed it in.

Until a few years ago, Money Point had been infamous as almost devoid of life. Today our team "marveled at how fast the area has recovered," Dave said.

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• water
• park
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• elizabeth
• chesapeake
• virginia
• otter
• habitat
• restoration
• wetland
• tidal
• pollution
• environment
• project
• cleanup