Alaska holds more long-tailed vole records than any other state, concentrated in mountain country like Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, the Brooks Range, and Chugach National Forest. Unlike most voles, this one doesn’t stick to worn grass runways, moving instead through wet meadows, streamside thickets, and talus slopes wherever moisture and cover line up.
It clips grasses and sedges close to cover and retreats fast at the first sign of movement nearby, since American marten and other predators take long-tailed voles whenever they get the chance. Alaska’s cooler climate lets the species use wet openings and forest edges closer to sea level than it can manage in the drier, hotter Lower 48.
Records run heaviest from July through August, tracking the short window when Alaska’s brief summer supports the grasses and sedges this vole depends on. Litters run around five young, and with a recorded lifespan topping out near a year, this is a species built for fast turnover rather than longevity.
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