Minnesota is the far eastern edge of the Richardson’s ground squirrel’s range, and the state’s 65 records show it. They come from a handful of western prairie counties. Lac qui Parle leads with 23 and Clay follows with 19. The Mentor Prairie Wildlife Management Area is the most reported single site. East of the old prairie-forest border there are no records at all. The open, closely grazed grassland this squirrel needs runs out there.
The state’s seasonal record is a hibernator’s signature: nothing before March, a surge to a July crest, then quiet again by October. These squirrels spend much of the year underground. Adults begin retreating below as the summer dries, so the window for a record is shorter than the warm months suggest. NatureServe ranks the species vulnerable in Minnesota. That’s less a verdict of decline than a recognition of how narrow its in-state range is: a strip of remnant and farmed prairie along the Dakota line.
Full species profile
