New Jersey has no southern red-backed vole records from 2000 to 2026. The state’s history for the species rests on older specimens collected before 2000, and they don’t go where you might expect. The northwestern highlands, the coolest, most heavily forested ground the state has, account for only a few, in Morris and Sussex counties. Most come instead from the southern coastal plain, in Ocean, Atlantic, Burlington, and Camden counties.
Cool shade in the Pinelands
The pattern makes sense once you know the animal. This vole doesn’t need mountains; it needs a cool, moist forest floor, moss, leaf litter, and rotting logs. The Pine Barrens’ cedar swamps and shaded stream corridors deliver exactly that, and they hold it within a short drive of the most heavily trapped and surveyed ground in the state. Whether the coastal-plain lead reflects the voles or the surveyors is precisely what occurrence records can’t settle on their own.
No recent season, and a secure grade
Without a single record since 2000, New Jersey offers no seasonal pattern for this vole. It doesn’t hibernate, though, and stays active under snow through the winter. NatureServe ranks it S5 in New Jersey, secure, the strongest grade available, and it carries no separate state listing.
Full species profile
