Hairy-tailed moles in West Virginia turn up almost entirely in upland forest soil, and the state’s 65 records sit squarely in the high country rather than the river bottoms. Monongahela National Forest, Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge, and Babcock State Park account for most of the confirmed reports.
A mole that needs well-drained ground
This species is pickier about soil than the more familiar eastern mole. It favors loose, well-drained upland ground rather than soft lowland soil, which is exactly what the Allegheny highlands around Monongahela National Forest and Canaan Valley offer, and it holds on in the well-drained forested slopes above the New River Gorge near Babcock State Park too.
Two tunnel systems, one mole
A hairy-tailed mole digs shallow surface tunnels to hunt earthworms and soil insects just under the leaf litter, visible afterward as raised ridges in soft ground, and keeps a separate, deeper permanent tunnel system with a nest chamber below the frost line. Both systems stay in use year-round, since the species doesn’t hibernate the way a groundhog does.
Status in West Virginia
NatureServe ranks the hairy-tailed mole S4, apparently secure, and it is native to West Virginia. Records rise through spring into early summer as fresh digging brings more tunnels to the surface.
