Western heather vole records in Utah come entirely from GBIF specimen data, not iNaturalist photos, all 87 of them from around the Uinta Mountains, Wasatch Range, and Ashley National Forest. That split hints at how easy this vole is to miss: it lives under moss and shrub cover, browsing bark and buds rather than grazing in the open like most voles, so it rarely turns up in a casual photo.
Records cluster hard in July and August, which likely tracks when biologists and hikers reach these subalpine forests rather than when the vole is actually most active. It’s known to stay busy under snowpack through winter. NatureServe lists it S2 Imperiled in Utah, a real signal given how thin the state’s high-elevation shrub habitat is and how little survey effort covers it.
Full species profile
