Washington mammals

Northern pocket gopher in Washington

Thomomys talpoides

Native to Washington S5 Secure in Washington

Not listed as nonindigenous in Washington by USGS NAS; native to its Washington range.

IUCN Red List status

  1. LC
  2. NT
  3. VU
  4. EN
  5. CR
  6. EW
  7. EX

LC – Least Concern

Widespread and abundant; not at risk.

Northern pocket gopher in low vegetationNorthern pocket gopher facing forward among leavesNorthern pocket gopher partly hidden in ground coverNorthern pocket gopher feeding beside green plantsNorthern pocket gopher climbing over a fresh soil mound
Photo: Henggang Cui · CC0Northern pocket gopher in low vegetationPhoto: Henggang Cui · CC0Northern pocket gopher facing forward among leavesPhoto: Henggang Cui · CC0Northern pocket gopher partly hidden in ground coverPhoto: Alina Martin · CC BY 4.0Northern pocket gopher feeding beside green plantsPhoto: Lauren McLaurin · CC BY 4.0Northern pocket gopher climbing over a fresh soil mound

Northern pocket gopher in Washington, by the numbers

Occasional in Washington 80th most recorded of 145 mammals logged in Washington

1,616 occurrence records
56 with iNaturalist photos
Jun 25, 2026 Last seen in Washington

Records from 2000–2026.

1,616 total records count every Washington occurrence from GBIF and iNaturalist; the map plots a georeferenced sample of 300; the monthly chart covers the 1,607 records with a full observation date.

When to look for the Northern pocket gopher in Washington

Most sightings fall in June to November.

1,607 Washington occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) by month of year, 2000–2026. Shows when the species is recorded, not a guarantee of presence.

Monthly Washington records (table)
MonthRecords
January26
February5
March89
April132
May141
June247
July177
August159
September150
October244
November194
December43

Monthly northern pocket gopher occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) in Washington, 2000–2026.

Seasonality

Year-round in Washington, with recorded sightings peaking in June–November.

Occurrence map

Where Northern pocket gopher has been recorded in Washington

300 records mapped · zoom and drag to explore

300 Washington records mapped

Notable places to look

Park, forest, or monumentiNaturalist records
Gifford Pinchot National Forest 27
Mount Rainier National Park 22
Washington State Department of Natural Resources (WADNR) State Resource Management Area 14
Juniper Dunes Wilderness Area 9
Trout Lake Natural Area Preserve 7
Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness 6
Ginkgo Petrified Forest 4
Wells-Chelan-Sagebrush Flats Wildlife Area Complex 4

Protected places with the most northern pocket gopher sightings, from the USGS Protected Areas Database plus named mountain ranges, good spots to look, not a full breakdown, so they don't sum to the total.

Where it's recorded in Washington

CountyRecords
Walla Walla County 518
Yakima County 171
Whitman County 112
Pend Oreille County 94
Klickitat County 76
Grant County 74
Chelan County 73
Kittitas County 65
Okanogan County 58
Benton County 55
Stevens County 52
Columbia County 46
17 other counties 222

The complete county distribution, spread across 29 Washington counties. Every occurrence record falls in one county, so these sum to the total. Counties from GBIF and US Census boundaries.

Washington’s 2000–2026 dataset contains 1,616 northern pocket gopher records. The feeds contribute 56 iNaturalist and 1,609 GBIF records, and their overlap is retained only once in the total. In the record-volume ordering, not a population census, it falls at rank 70 of 126.

The strongest month is June (247 records), whereas the quietest is February (5). At named protected lands, Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area leads with 2 records. These numbers locate and date records, but do not estimate how many animals Washington holds.

Occurrence data from iNaturalist and GBIF.

Northern pocket gopher in low vegetation
Full species profile Northern pocket gopher Thomomys talpoides Size 22.9 cm9 in Weight 60–160 g2.1–5.6 oz Lifespan Up to 6 yr View the full profile

More mammals in Washington in the atlas

Data & sources

The data and visualizations on this page draw on these open sources:

  • GBIFCC-BY 4.0occurrence records behind the range map, elevation, and record counts
  • iNaturalistCC0 / CC-BY / CC-BY-SAobservations, photos, and audio recordings
  • NatureServe ExplorerCC-BYthe state conservation rank
  • IUCN Red Listattributed factthe global conservation status
  • USGS NASpublic domainnative / introduced status
  • Natural Earthpublic domainthe relief basemap
  • USFSpublic domainnational-forest boundaries
  • USGS Protected Areas Databasepublic domainthe named parks, forests, and refuges behind "notable places to look"