Minnesota holds some of the richest arctic shrew records in the country, and they draw a clear line through the state’s north country. Since 2000, 317 reports have come in from 37 counties, with the heaviest clusters in places where biologists have run small-mammal surveys: Caribou State Wildlife Management Area in Kittson County accounts for 58 records, and Carlos Avery, north of the Twin Cities, adds 30. Cook and St. Louis counties, deep in the Arrowhead’s boreal forest, hold dozens more.
Two things stand out. First, the species turns up well outside the classic north woods, in prairie-fringe counties like Kittson and Clay and in metro-adjacent counties like Anoka, Washington, and Chisago, which hints at a wider Minnesota footprint than casual sightings suggest. Second, reports build from June into a July-through-September peak, reflecting survey season more than the shrew’s own calendar, since it stays active under winter snow. NatureServe hasn’t assigned a state rank here, so the records themselves are most of what Minnesota knows about this animal.
Full species profile
