Spring melt reveals vole tracks

Observation by Gillian Brubaker:

I have been living here for over 50 years and have never seen tunnels on the lawn like I am this spring. After a record snow year and a late melt, the receding snow revealed a maze of little tunnels all over the yard. My son who lives on the hillside also has a lot of these tiny tunnels in his yard (see photo). I am wondering if it was because of all of the snow or maybe more or a new type of little animal?

LEO Network says:

It looks like vole tracks. There are some helpful resources attached. See also article from the Times Independent in Utah where they are also seeing alot of vole tracks. There are two primary types of voles in Alaska, meadow voles and red backed voles. The red backed voles are typically found in forests. For more about voles in Alaska, see the ADFG article attached. LEO Network has reached out to Ian Van Tets, assistant professor of biology at the University of Alaska Anchorage who is studying red-backed voles in Anchorage.

According to ADFG's vole website (attached) you can tell the difference between a vole and a lemming because voles have a little tail and lemmings have just a stump. There are two types of voles in Alaska the red-backed and meadow voles. "Red-backed voles typically live in the forest in small groups while meadow voles form large colonies and live and tend to live in open meadows or in tundra."

They live in the maze of tunnels they build, where they travel to find food. They like to stay in the tunnels for warmth and protection, because a brown vole in the winter is easy prey. Voles usually have low survival through the winter. But this winter with the record snow warming the ground, apparently allowed for better survival. Also voles are known to have five year population cycles, so how this aligned with the winter for 2022/2023 may help to explain the proliferation of vole tracks in Gillian's yard. Voles can host fleas and ticks that can spread harmful illnesses like Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, tularemia and rabies. We know of no evidence however for spreading these diseases in Alaska.