REGIONAL— If you’re like many homeowners in the North Country, you may still be dealing with the impacts from vole damage this winter. When the snow melted in April, many homeowners in the area were surprised to see a significant amount of damage to both lawns, shrubs, and young trees.
A high population of voles, particularly meadow voles, was responsible for much of the damage. Lawns were among the hardest hit as snow melted to reveal that voles had been busy feasting on grass under the snow, leaving trails of dead and heaped grass in their wake. According to the University of Minnesota Extension Service, if you see raised, grass-lined tunnels and big bare patches left behind after the snowmelt, you’re almost certainly look at damage from voles.
While the grass will grow back in most cases, since voles typically don’t eat below the soil level, where the growing crown of most grasses is located, they can slow the springtime recovery of your lawn.
Shrubs and small trees also took a hit this winter, and they often won’t come back, depending on the extent of the damage. When not eating grass, voles are frequently busy eating the inner bark of woody plants and as they do so they often remove enough of the tree or shrub’s circulatory system to kill the plant. Ornamental shrubs and fruit trees seem to be among their favorites. Homeowners should protect young fruit trees, in particular, in the fall by wrapping them, which helps to discourage damage from voles.
Voles are small, brown, mouse-sized rodents, but with smaller ears and short tails. Here in the North Country, they spend the winter under the snow, where they inflict their damage usually undetected until spring.
You’ll need to take steps in the fall in order to reduce vole damage in the future. Total vole elimination is impossible as they are typically present in naturally grassy areas, however a homeowner can discourage them from causing damage in their yards.  Each fall the homeowner should remove any weeds, wild grasses, or plant litter around their yard to get rid of food sources and protection areas for the voles. 
With a little work even the unwanted damage from voles in your yard can be repaired. For more information about voles, visit www.extension.umn.edu and enter “voles” in the search bar.