Wyoming’s occurrence data holds 85 western meadow vole records, a modest total built almost entirely from GBIF specimen entries rather than casual sightings. Only one of those records ties to a named site, Yellowstone National Park, though the species’ habitat runs well beyond the park itself.
A mountain-meadow vole, not a plains vole
Across its range, this vole splits into two different pictures: broad, low-lying wetland complexes in the northern plains states, and a tighter, elevation-driven pattern through the Rockies and interior West. Wyoming falls firmly into the second group. Its meadow voles depend on wet meadows, sedge marshes, and snow-holding mountain drainages rather than the sprawling grassland wetlands that produce far more records in states like North Dakota.
Life under Wyoming’s long snowpack
Winter doesn’t shut this species down. Under Wyoming’s deep, long-lasting snowpack, voles travel through subnivean tunnels at ground level, safely below the reach of most aerial predators, clipping stems and chewing bark at the base of shrubs as they go. Nearly all of the state’s records land in July, August, and September, almost certainly the window when field surveys can reach these snow-covered meadows at all rather than a sign the vole is only active in late summer.
Status in Wyoming
NatureServe has not assigned the western meadow vole a numeric state rank in Wyoming, reflecting how recently it was split out from the broader meadow vole complex, and it’s native to its Wyoming range. Its records here describe a mountain-meadow specialist adapted to exactly the kind of snow-holding country the state’s high valleys provide.
Full species profile
