After a normal winter there is usually some damage to lawns caused by voles. After this winter, it may be much worse than usual.
I’m so excited I can finally see the lawn after months of snow, but yikes! Throughout the lawn are dozens of brown grass trails making it look as if it is covered with dirt-colored varicose veins.
Under all of that snow for so many months, the voles were having numerous parties traveling from one side of the yard to another, back and forth, all over the place. After a normal winter there is always some vole damage. But this year it is magnified ten-fold. They were hidden from predators, I guess.
My usual practice to rehabilitate the lawn after voles have created their multitudinous runways is to rake out all the dead grass and then wait patiently for nature to regrow the lawn. It can take weeks. With the extent of the damage this year, I don’t know if the “wait and see” approach will work. I may have to sow some seed or transplant plugs from other spots in the yard to rehabilitate the runways. Not only are there grass-bare trails, there are also numerous burrow entries, holes approximately two inches across.
Voles, also known as meadow mice, do look a bit like mice, but with shorter tails, heavier bodies and smaller ears. While they spend most of their time underground, one night recently I saw one scurrying away when I turned on the porch light.
Unfortunately, they are active day and night all year. They will often burrow up next to trees and shrubs eating the outer layer of bark off trunks and low branches. If they girdle a trunk or limb with their gnawing, it can die.
Junipers seem especially susceptible and dead areas will show up this spring and summer. They also eat the roots of various plants, which can cause severe damage or death.
According to UC Davis Integrated Pest Management, their numbers fluctuate each year, reaching peak numbers every 3-6 years. Possibly this was my lucky peak year and the snow had nothing to do with the extensive damage. Although their most prolific breeding time is spring, they do breed throughout the year. They may have 5-10 litters of 3-6 young per year – that’s a lot of rodents! Their life span is about 12 months.
To manage voles, reduce vegetative cover such as weeds, ground covers or heavy mulch. Remove mulch from the trunks of trees out two feet and, if possible, keep the snow away from trunks as well to reduce hiding places. Mouse traps in the runways can help. Dogs and cats can be deterrents.
For management strategies see UC Davis IPM: https://ipm.ucanr.edu/home-and-landscape/voles/pest-notes/?src=302-www&fr=3789.
JoAnne Skelly is Associate Professor & Extension Educator Emerita at University of Nevada Cooperative Extension. Email skellyj@unr.edu.