Utah mammals

Western Water Shrew in Utah

Sorex navigator

Native to Utah S4 Apparently Secure in Utah

Not listed as nonindigenous in Utah by USGS NAS; native to its Utah range.

IUCN Red List status

NE – Not Evaluated

Not yet assessed against IUCN Red List criteria.

Western water shrew at the grassy edge of a streamAI-generated image: Western water shrew foraging along wet streamside stones. No additional license-safe photograph of this species exists. This image was generated with AI from verified reference material and reviewed by our editorial team for accuracyAI-generated image: Western water shrew crouched on a wet rock above dark water. No additional license-safe photograph of this species exists. This image was generated with AI from verified reference material and reviewed by our editorial team for accuracy
Photo: velodrome · CC BY 4.0Western water shrew at the grassy edge of a streamAI-generated image No additional license-safe photograph of this species exists. This image was generated with AI from verified reference material and reviewed by our editorial team for accuracyWestern water shrew foraging along wet streamside stonesAI-generated image No additional license-safe photograph of this species exists. This image was generated with AI from verified reference material and reviewed by our editorial team for accuracyWestern water shrew crouched on a wet rock above dark water

Western Water Shrew in Utah, by the numbers

Common in Utah 38th most recorded of 141 mammals logged in Utah

333 occurrence records
2 with iNaturalist photos
Jun 9, 2022 Last seen in Utah

Records from 2000–2026.

333 total records count every Utah occurrence from GBIF and iNaturalist; the map plots a georeferenced sample of 300; the monthly chart covers the 318 records with a full observation date.

When to look for the Western Water Shrew in Utah

Most sightings fall in July to August.

318 Utah occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) by month of year, 2000–2026. Shows when the species is recorded, not a guarantee of presence.

Monthly Utah records (table)
MonthRecords
January2
February0
March0
April22
May38
June26
July78
August109
September35
October7
November1
December0

Monthly western water shrew occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) in Utah, 2000–2026.

Seasonality

Year-round in Utah, with recorded sightings peaking in July–August.

Occurrence map

Where Western Water Shrew has been recorded in Utah

300 records mapped · zoom and drag to explore

300 Utah records mapped

Notable places to look

Park, forest, or monumentiNaturalist records
Wasatch National Forest 21
Cache National Forest 4
State Trust Lands North La Sal Block 4
Mount Olympus Wilderness 2

Protected places with the most western water shrew sightings, from the USGS Protected Areas Database plus named mountain ranges, good spots to look, not a full breakdown, so they don't sum to the total.

Where it's recorded in Utah

CountyRecords
Salt Lake County 81
Sanpete County 32
Summit County 29
Emery County 27
Garfield County 24
Grand County 23
Tooele County 21
Sevier County 13
Box Elder County 12
Beaver County 12
Wayne County 9
Utah County 9
13 other counties 41

The complete county distribution, spread across 25 Utah counties. Every occurrence record falls in one county, so these sum to the total. Counties from GBIF and US Census boundaries.

Western water shrew reports follow Utah’s wet margins within much larger landscapes. Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest supplies cool mountain streams, while Grand Staircase-Escalante and the Great Salt Lake region point to isolated waterways and marsh edges in drier country.

Records climb sharply in July and reach their highest point in August before dropping in autumn. Summer access to streams and fieldwork timing likely strengthen that pattern. Quiet winter months don’t prove the shrew is absent from suitable watercourses.

Occurrence data from iNaturalist and GBIF.

Western water shrew at the grassy edge of a stream
Full species profile Western Water Shrew Sorex navigator Size 13–17 cm5.1–6.7 in Weight 13 g0.5 oz Lifespan Up to 1.5 yr View the full profile

More mammals in Utah in the atlas

Data & sources

The data and visualizations on this page draw on these open sources:

  • GBIFCC-BY 4.0occurrence records behind the range map, elevation, and record counts
  • iNaturalistCC0 / CC-BY / CC-BY-SAobservations, photos, and audio recordings
  • NatureServe ExplorerCC-BYthe state conservation rank
  • IUCN Red Listattributed factthe global conservation status
  • USGS NASpublic domainnative / introduced status
  • Natural Earthpublic domainthe relief basemap
  • USFSpublic domainnational-forest boundaries
  • USGS Protected Areas Databasepublic domainthe named parks, forests, and refuges behind "notable places to look"