The Allegheny woodrat isn’t a marsh or wetland species at all, it’s a specialist of rocky cliffs, sandstone outcrops, and talus slopes in Ohio’s unglaciated southeastern hill country, where it builds den middens tucked into crevices among the boulders. Only 18 records exist statewide since 2000, making it one of the rarest native rodents in Ohio.
NatureServe ranks it S1, critically imperiled, reflecting a real decline tied to habitat loss, exposure to raccoon roundworm, and the loss of American chestnut, once a major food source, to chestnut blight. Records peak in July but stay thin all year, consistent with a species that’s genuinely scarce and hard to find rather than simply under-recorded.
Full species profile
