- Author
- Christa LeGrande, Erica Henry, and Ilai Keren, WDFW
- Publication Year
- 2025
- Region
- Puget Trough/Lowlands
- Habitat
- Mixed Oak & Conifer, Upland Prairie
- Topic
- Mammals, Monitoring, Rare Species Recovery
- Full Citation
- LeGrande, C., E. Henry, and I. Keren. 2025. Mazama pocket gopher survey report: South Puget Sound, Washington. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Olympia, WA. 16 pp.
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) annually conducts Mazama pocket gopher (Thomomys mazama; gopher) abundance surveys on sites with known gopher inhabitance that are potential reserves under the state and federal gopher recovery plans (Stinson 2020; USFWS 2022). Understanding the estimated abundance and distribution of pocket gophers can inform management actions to minimize negative impacts to the species and advance recovery targets and species and habitat objectives range wide. Transect-based mound surveys were conducted at several occupied sites starting in 2020 and continued through 2024 concurrent with recovery objectives to monitor abundance and trends at gopher reserve locations. This report covers results for sites surveyed for gopher abundance in 2024.