Sagebrush voles break the usual vole pattern: instead of damp grassy runways, they live in dry sagebrush steppe, digging their own short burrows rather than relying on the runway systems other voles build through thick vegetation. The Snake River Plain gives this species some of its best Idaho habitat, sagebrush flats far drier than the mountain forest of the Sawtooth and Panhandle regions listed alongside it.
Records concentrate sharply in September, more than any other month combined with August, likely tracking scattered trapping-survey timing more than a true seasonal cycle, since this species stays active through Idaho’s cold months rather than hibernating. Almost every one of the 114 records comes through GBIF specimen data, and NatureServe rates it S4, apparently secure, statewide.
Full species profile
