The other morning, I thought I noticed something out of the corner of my eye that quickly moved off the end of my dock. I glanced but didn’t see anything right away. Then I noticed a little rounded, black head moving through the water. Then another joined it and another. Pretty soon, a family of 4 otters was diving and bobbing in the waves directly in front of me. I don’t see them regularly, so I always pay close attention when they pop up.

The river otters on American Lake love our docks, boats and boathouses. They have their favorite locations to raise a litter of pups or get away from other grumpier otters. One curious otter used to wait near a dock for the owner to come slip into the water for a swim in her wetsuit, then would sneak up to get a nibble on her legs. Another protective mama otter went after a dog who had jumped in the water to retrieve the ball his owner had thrown for him. Another family had their dock selected by the local otters as their designated litter box. They persisted year after year to leave piles of stinky otter poo regardless of the ingenious ways the chosen family tried to discourage them. After winters of quiet, some surprised boat owners have removed the covers from their boats only to discover otters have been hosting rave parties in them all season and the interiors are trashed.

Whether you love them or are maddened by their behavior, they have a compelling cuteness factor that keeps us encouraging (or at least tolerating) their presence on the lake. The fact that American Lake has a resident population of river otters is an indication that the lake, for all its algae and weed problems, is a relatively healthy body of water. Otters are top predators. The water must be clear enough for them to hunt. Their prey of small fish and snails must have enough food and aquatic plants to take cover in.

In the fall and winter, the water at the surface of the lake gets colder than the lower layers. It contracts and begins to sink down. This force pushes on the phosphorous and nitrogen lying in the anoxic muck at the bottom, sort of like mixing a giant bowl of chocolate chip cookie batter by hand. The elements act as fertilizers for cyanobacteria also known as blue-green algae. Several species secrete neurotoxins into the water. As the cyanobacteria continue to multiply, the wind blows masses of them into coves and onto our shores. They cover the surface with what looks like opaque, green paint, floating just under the top. This is what’s known as a “bloom”.

If you spot one of these blooms, the water around it is not safe for people, pets, or otters. American Lake has several of these blooms each year. This year, with the low water levels, the blooms began appearing in September. Some pets have died, and long-term exposure to blooms has been linked to ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease), so it’s important that lakeshore residents take these algae blooms seriously.

A few residents are communicating with Pierce County Surface Water Management about the weir at the end of Little American Lake. The County has been removing boards that help keep the water level up to 233’ above sea level; the level determined by the Corps of Engineers to be safe when they designed the weir in the 1950s. By allowing the lake to fill up to its historical level, some of the impact of blue-green algae blooms could be softened. This would make the lake safer for all of us, including the otters.

If you would like to contribute your opinion about the weir and the water levels, you may contact resident Stan Kovar at Stan.Kovar@yahoo.com. Stan will see that your opinion is communicated to the County.