These pests can be very destructive to ornamental plantings, including annual and perennial flowers, turf, shrubs and small trees. Voles are compact animals with stocky bodies, short legs and short tails. Their eyes are small and their ears are partially hidden. The underfur is generally dense and covered with thicker, longer guard hairs. Typically, voles are brown or gray, though many color variations exist.
Voles are active day and night year-round.
They construct extensive tunnel systems and surface runways. Several adults and young may live in one tunnel system. Populations seem to peak every 2 to 3 years, depending on food availability, climate and other stress factors. Damage Voles damage plant materials by their feeding habits and their tunnel systems, which can ruin turf as well as interfere with irrigation water patterns. Voles will girdle fruit and forest trees causing commercial damage.