West Virginia’s open occurrence records for Peromyscus leucopus, the white-footed mouse, run to 209, with reports concentrated around Harpers Ferry National Historical Park and scattered through Monongahela National Forest and New River Gorge National Park and Preserve. That spread says more about survey effort than about where the mouse actually lives.
The default mouse of West Virginia’s hardwoods
Unlike the state’s spruce-tied red squirrel or its wetland-bound meadow vole, this is a generalist of eastern deciduous forest, and West Virginia is covered almost entirely in the oak-hickory and mixed hardwoods it favors. It does about as well in the Ridge-and-Valley woodlots around Harpers Ferry as in the steep hardwood slopes of New River Gorge or the northern hardwood stands of Monongahela National Forest, which is why it turns up across nearly every forested corner of the state rather than one particular region.
Active after dark, cached for lean stretches
The mouse is nocturnal and forages mostly on seeds and nuts, moving into old bird nests, tree cavities, and brush piles to store its cache. Records here peak sharply in June and drop to nothing in September, a swing that more likely tracks how much people are out looking than any real seasonal disappearance, since the species stays active through the cold months.
Status in West Virginia
NatureServe ranks it S5, secure, and it’s native to the state. It’s one of the most frequently recorded small mammals across its range, underscoring how completely West Virginia’s hardwood forest suits it.
Full species profile
