Our Plan

In September 2019, the Alliance’s board of directors adopted a Strategic Plan following a process that involved conversations with dozens of stakeholders representing tribal, government, fishing, nonprofit, and other perspectives. The Plan has been updated every two years since then, always looking out 4-5 years.  The Strategic Plan was most recently updated in March 2025 – here is a 2 page summary.

Strategic Initiatives

Initiative 1: Complete scientific, socio-economic, and public policy assessments necessary to determine the methods for and impacts of restoring and protecting a healthy sea otter population in Oregon.

Initiative 2:  Build broad public support on the coast and statewide for restoring a healthy Oregon sea otter population.  
 
Initiative 3: Work to ensure that Tribal, state, and federal government plans and policies include sea otter reintroduction to Oregon as a priority. 
 
If Initiatives 1-3 are successful: Initiative 4:  Reintroduce a viable population of sea otters to one or more suitable sites on the Oregon coast, with follow-up monitoring.
 
Initiative 5:  Build the Alliance’s organizational capacity to implement this Strategic Plan.

The Timeline

  • Strategic Initiatives #1 (Assessment & Analysis), #2 (Public Support), and #3 (Government Plans & Priority) are underway and running concurrently.  As of spring 2025, the Alliance expects to have advanced these Initiatives with a clear leader identified and prepared to act by the end of 2027.

  • Strategic Initiative #4 (Reintroduction) will be launched in earnest if/when Strategic Initiatives #1, #2, and #3 are successful. Some preliminary elements of preparing for Strategic Initiative #4 are already under development in 2025 as an outgrowth of the scientific work under Strategic Initiative 1.  This is to ensure that  a long gap in implementation time won’t be necessitated if a decision is made to move forward.

  • It is premature to know how many years the reintroduction process itself will take. Beyond the actual translocation of sea otters, the reintroduction process will also include ongoing monitoring, research, and continued stakeholder engagement that will likely last for decades.

  • Strategic Initiative #5 (Organizational Capacity) is underway and will continue throughout the life of the Plan.

Core Strategies

  • Community Engagement:  To reach good decisions about sea otter restoration, the public must be part of the process, especially those groups and individuals most likely affected. This includes Tribes, shellfish harvesters, fishermen, ports, businesses, conservation organizations, and local, state, and federal governments.

  • Partnerships:  Key pieces of the work needed will be accomplished by other entities that share the Alliance’s Vision and have the appropriate resources, skills, and/or legal authority.  A key goal in the Alliance strategic plan is to forge partnerships.  The Elakha Alliance is committed to forging partnerships with Oregon’s native tribes with the aim of ensuring that Tribal voices are elevated when it comes to decision-making around sea otter reintroduction.

  • Regional Coordinations: Planning for Oregon sea otter reintroduction is happening in coordination with similar planning for a reintroduction to the northern California coast – just north of their current sea otter range. As the Elakha Alliance is focusing its principal energy on an Oregon reintroduction, it continues to work with California partners in recognition of the shared science and overlapping challenges. 
Review Our Vision

Listen to Board President Robert Bailey discuss otter restoration and the Elakha Alliance’s plan!