1. United States
2. Calif.
3. Letter

I’m writing from Martinez to ask you to include in the FY27 appropriations cycle a directive and dedicated funding for the socioeconomic impact assessment that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service identified as the next step toward sea otter reintroduction on the Northern California coast. Here’s where things stand. In 2022, Congress directed USFWS to study whether reintroducing sea otters to the Pacific Coast was feasible. The resulting assessment concluded it is — and identified Northern California and Oregon as the largest remaining gap in the species’ historical range. USFWS then held 16 community open houses up and down the coast in 2024. Tribes, fisheries, aquariums, academic researchers, and conservation groups have been engaged for years. The Monterey Bay Aquarium has pioneered a surrogacy program that successfully releases rehabilitated otters into the wild. Everything is ready for the next step. USFWS itself named it: a comprehensive socioeconomic impact assessment focused on likely reintroduction sites. That assessment has not happened. Not because it’s controversial, but because USFWS has not been resourced to do it. This is a keystone species question, not a sentimental one. Sea otters keep sea urchin populations in check. Without them, urchins overgraze kelp. Northern California has lost over 90% of its kelp forests in the last decade. Kelp forests sequester carbon, shelter juvenile fish, and buffer the coast. The current gap in the sea otter’s range stretches from San Francisco Bay to Oregon. Closing that gap is the single most consequential marine restoration opportunity on the Pacific Coast, and the science is already done. The ask: include report language and a specific appropriation in the FY27 Interior-Environment bill directing USFWS to complete the socioeconomic impact assessment, with tribal consultation funding built in. The 2022 feasibility study is the template. You’ve done this once. Please do it again. California’s coast was built by sea otters. Bringing them home is within reach. Thank you for your time.