“The history of sea otters in western North America—including information from Indigenous oral histories, archaeological remains, and genetic studies—suggests that sea otters in Oregon represented a hybrid zone between southern and northern sea otter populations. Based on this evidence, an argument could be made that any future reintroduction effort would benefit from a design that keeps this history in mind and, thus, aims to recreate such a hybrid zone. This could be achieved in several ways: (1) using both southern and northern source populations for an Oregon reintroduction, (2) using northern sea otters as a source population for a northern Oregon release site and southern sea otters as a source population for a southern Oregon release site, or (3) pairing an Oregon reintroduction that uses a northern sea otter source population with a northern California reintroduction that uses southern sea otters as a source population.”