The Elakha Alliance worked with Oregon’s talented marine debris artist, Elizabeth Roberts, to create this unique art piece to bring awareness about returning sea otters back to Oregon. This sea otter is life-sized, and made entirely out of marine debris that has washed up on Oregon beaches. The sea otter even comes with a special hidden armpit pocket, where it’s hiding a special keepsake. Scroll to the bottom of the page to find out which locations you’ll be able to view this one-of-a-kind creation in person.

The Elakha Alliance would like to thank the Coquille Indian Tribe for funding this sculpture and outreach through the Coquille Tribal Community Fund. The Coquille Indian Tribe established its Community Fund in order to share the proceeds of The Mill Casino and Hotel with organizations that benefit the residents of southwestern Oregon. The fund seeks to strengthen the community by improving opportunities and lives throughout the region.

Oregon coastal tribes have an ancient relationship with sea otters and restoring these cultural connections is foundational to the Elakha Alliance’s mission. For thousands of years, indigenous people shared Oregon’s shoreline with sea otters. Ancient stories tell of the near-mythical qualities of sea otters, often instructing the listener to consider them as kin in a time when the boundaries between the animal world and the human world were more fluid than today. Their lush fur provided extraordinary warmth and was a marker of prosperity and distinction for those who possessed such a fur. Western science now understands that sea otters were key to the biologically-rich kelp forests in the ocean and eelgrass beds in estuaries that provided abundant foods and materials used by Indigenous people.

Scroll down to view the travel schedule of the sculpture along the Oregon coast for an opportunity to see it in person. If you’d like to host the sculpture at your facility, please contact Kyle@ElakhaAlliance.org.