Southwest Washington does outsized work in the state’s record for the northern Pacific jumping mouse. Clark County alone accounts for 307 reports, and a single state resource management area logged 311 on its own. That kind of pile-up signals organized survey effort or a few devoted observers, not an unusual concentration of mice. Mount Rainier National Park adds another 189 records, and the rest spread through the Cascades and Olympics wherever wet meadows and streamside grass hold moisture into summer.
The calendar tells the cleaner story. Records build from April to a July crest, stay heavy through August, then collapse to nearly zero from November through February, matching the long hibernation these mice are known for. With more than 1,400 state records, Washington has one of the deepest files for this species anywhere, yet the counts still measure effort as much as animals. NatureServe ranks it secure in the state, and nothing in the pattern argues otherwise.
Full species profile
