Secret Lives Under the Snow: Identifying Voles vs. Moles

Hello neighbors, Jeremy Klice here.

Spring in Jamestown is a magical time. The birds are chirping, the sun is shining, and the snow piles are finally receding to reveal… a complete disaster on your front lawn.

If your yard looks like a map of the New York City subway system carved into the grass, don't panic. You haven’t been visited by aliens making crop circles. You’ve been hosting a winter party for some very busy rodents.

But before you go declaring war on the wrong critter, we need to play detective. Who built these tunnels? Was it a Mole? Or was it a Vole?

(Yes, they rhyme. No, they are not the same thing. And yes, it matters.)

The Suspects: The Miner vs. The Mouse

The Mole: The Underground Recluse Moles are the introverts of the dirt world. They spend almost all their time underground, digging deep tunnels. They are carnivores who just want to eat earthworms, insects, and grubs. If you see mounds of soil pushing up like mini-volcanoes, you have a mole. They generally don’t care about your grass; they just accidentally ruin it while hunting for bugs.

The Vole: The Party Animal This is the culprit 90% of the time when the snow melts. Voles (also known as meadow mice) are herbivores. They don’t dig deep; they live on the surface floor. The damage you see—those squiggly, snake-like trails worn into the turf—are "runways" where they’ve been commuting all winter.

Why Does This Happen in Winter?

You might be wondering, "Why didn't the hawks or the neighborhood cat eat them?"

You can blame our Jamestown winter for that. That heavy layer of snow we complain about actually acts as a cozy, insulating blanket for voles. It keeps the ground temperature right around 32°F, which is balmy compared to the air temperature.

More importantly, the snow hides them from predators. Safe under the snowpack, voles feel free to construct elaborate tunnel systems right on top of your lawn, munching on grass blades without fear of being swooped up by an owl.

The Good News: Your Lawn Will Survive

When you first see those "lightning bolt" tracks in April, it looks terrible. But here is the secret: Voles usually only eat the grass blades, leaving the root system intact.

The Fix: The "Rake and Wake" Fixing vole damage is surprisingly easy and rarely permanent.

1. Get Aggressive: Grab a leaf rake or a hard garden rake and vigorously rake out the matted, dead grass along the trails. This exposes the soil and encourages the grass to stand up.

2. Feed It: Apply a little spring fertilizer to help the grass wake up and fill in the gaps.

3. Wait: Usually, the surrounding grass will grow in and cover the tracks quickly. If it’s

really bad, you can toss down a little seed.

The Bad News: Your Trees Are on the Menu

While your lawn will forgive a vole, your young trees might not. Voles love to gnaw on the bark of young trees and shrubs, a process called "girdling". If they chew all the way around the trunk, they cut off the tree's food supply, which can kill it.

The Fix: Armor Up If you have young fruit trees or ornamentals, don’t leave them defenseless.

• Install Tree Guards: Put a plastic spiral guard or a cylinder of "hardware cloth" (wire mesh) around the trunk.

• Go High: Make sure the guard is tall enough to extend above the expected snow line. If the snow is 2 feet deep and your guard is 1 foot tall, the vole just walks right over the fence to the buffet.

If you aren't sure if you’re looking at a Mole hill or a Vole highway, give me a shout. I’m happy to come take a look and get your yard back to looking like a lawn, rather than a rodent roadmap.

- Jeremy 🤙