The underparts are grey. It may have a touch of orange in the fur of the ears, nose, and rump. The heather vole lives, in small numbers in all evergreen or boreal forests in Canada except Newfoundland. There are more heather voles farther north in its range. In the United States, the heather vole can be found out west in coniferous forests, in the mountains, as far south as northern California.
Most heather voles live in birch and willow thickets near the tree line.
North of the tree line, there are not enough warm months to grow any trees at all. Heather voles live in all forests, at the edge of woodlands, and in uphill 'heaths'. Heaths are places where only grasses, mosses, and bushes grow. The heather vole builds a nest of grass in thick grass or under stones. Sometimes it uses the burrow left by another small mammal to hide its nest.