Utah’s thirteen-lined ground squirrel records are thin, just 20 total, loosely associated with the open ground around Great Salt Lake, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, and Ouray National Wildlife Refuge. That’s at the western, drier edge of a species whose core range sits across the northern Great Plains and Midwest, so Utah likely represents marginal habitat rather than a stronghold.
Half of Utah’s 20 records, 10, come from May alone, matching the short stretch after this squirrel ends its long winter dormancy and starts foraging in the open grass its stripes and spots are built to disguise it against.
NatureServe ranks it S3, Vulnerable, in Utah, consistent with a species living at the fringe of its range here.
Full species profile
