Many trees and shrubs are clipped just above ground, especially under snow cover. Pocket gophers construct burrow systems by loosening the soil with their claws and incisors, then use their forefeet and chest to push the soil out of the burrow. The soil is deposited in fan-shaped mounds 12 to 18 inches wide and 4 to 6 inches high. Pocket gopher mound and its relation to the tunnel system. Burrow systems consist of a main tunnel, generally 4 to 18 inches below the soil surface, and a variable number of lateral burrows extending from the main.
Lateral burrows end with a soil mound or only a soil plug at the surface.
A burrow system may be linear to highly branched, may contain up to 200 yards of tunnels, and may have a hundred or more mounds. Pocket gophers usually construct one to three mounds per day although the rate varies. Mound-building activity usually is greatest in spring and fall. Usually, only one adult is found in each burrow system except during breeding and while raising young. Six to eight plains pocket gophers per acre are considered high densities whereas northern pocket gophers occasionally reach densities of 20 per acre.