Plains pocket mouse reports trace Utah’s open desert country from the West Desert to the San Rafael Swell and Grand Staircase–Escalante. These widely separated places share dry shrubland and loose ground where a small burrowing mouse can shelter, rather than forest or bare rock.
Records climb quickly in May and stay high through July, with another smaller rise in September. Nearly all reports fall between spring and early autumn, but survey timing and warm-night access influence that window. The pattern describes documented encounters, not population size, and NatureServe ranks the species vulnerable in Utah.
Full species profile
