Iowa marks the northwestern edge of the woodland vole’s range, and the state’s 15 records cluster accordingly. Seven come from Fremont County in the southwest corner, where the Loess Hills hold some of Iowa’s last deep, wooded slopes. The rest scatter east through Webster, Johnson, and a few other counties, with named spots like Brushy Creek and Geode State Park contributing single reports.
Reports trickle in from March through October, with October the busiest month. Woodland voles live under leaf litter and loose soil in deciduous woods and almost never show themselves, so records tend to come from deliberate surveys rather than chance sightings. A month-by-month pattern built on fifteen such finds shouldn’t be over-read.
NatureServe ranks the species S3, vulnerable, in Iowa. That’s the familiar profile of a woodland animal in a farm state: the habitat is patchy, the vole is nearly invisible even where it persists, and the southwest corner’s wooded hills carry a disproportionate share of what’s known.
