The gray-tailed vole is as close to a Willamette Valley specialty as Oregon mammals get, and the record matches that reputation. All 193 reports since 2000 sit in 11 counties that trace the valley floor and its immediate edges, with Benton County out front at 60, followed by Marion (34) and Lane (27). Only Tillamook County, over the Coast Range, breaks the pattern. For a species whose world range barely extends beyond this valley, every county record helps define the boundaries of the whole animal.
Reports trickle in across every month, with the heaviest counts in October and July rather than a single breeding-season spike, which suits a vole: active all year, mostly out of sight, and usually recorded when a trapping survey, an owl pellet, or a lucky sighting gives it up. NatureServe ranks it apparently secure in Oregon, though the modest total is a reminder of how easily small, secretive rodents slip past casual observers. Grassland and marsh edges in the valley’s wildlife areas are the likeliest ground for new records.
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