Every one of Washington’s Merriam’s shrew records comes from east of the Cascade crest. Lincoln County alone has 28 of the 69 reports, with Asotin and Kittitas counties adding most of the rest. It’s a clean sweep of the state’s dry side: shrub-steppe, scabland, and open pine. For a shrew that’s unusual country, and it’s exactly what sets this species apart from its moisture-loving relatives.
The west-side parks and refuges often named as promising habitat have produced no confirmed records. Report counts here track where state wildlife areas and trap lines happen to be, not a true map of the shrew’s numbers.
October stands out on the calendar with 17 reports, the tail end of the fall trapping season. NatureServe ranks the species S3, vulnerable, in Washington, so each new confirmed record from the dry country carries some weight.
Full species profile
