The Western pocket gopher is one of the two small pocket gophers in Oregon. Depending on the region, the pelage of this gopher ranges from pure black with purplish and greenish overtones to brown to hazel to yellowish hazel on the dorsom and from lead colored to buff to ocherous on the venter. The face is lead colored to black.

The Western pocket gopher constructs burrows beneath the surface with a vertical tunnel connecting deeper burrows that include the nest.

This gopher occurs from the Columbia River to the California-Oregon border in the Coast Range and along the coast. It also occurs in the Cascade Range, with eastward extensions to Mosier, Paulina Lake, and Merrill in Klamath County.

Photo by Lee Jaffee, Flickr