The Western red-backed vole is among the smaller of the voles in Oregon. The pelage consists of a vaguely demarked reddish-brown or chestnut-brown stripe on the dorsum grading to buffy gray to dark gray on the sides and venter; the tail is indistinctly bi-colored, light grayish-brown above and whitish below.

This vole occurs from the Columbia River south through the Coast Range. It does not occur in the Willamette Valley or other interior valleys west of the Cascade Mountains. It is a denizen of forest habitats, but tends to be most abundant in closed canopy old-growth forests containing an abundance of fallen logs.

It is active throughout the day but most activity occurs below the ground.

Photo by Kathy Munsel, ODFW