The Mazama pocket gopher (''Thomomys mazama'') is a

smooth-toothed pocket gopher The smooth-toothed pocket gophers, genus ''Thomomys'', are so called because they are among the only pocket gophers without grooves on their incisors. They are also called the western pocket gophers because they are distributed in western North ...

restricted to the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Tho ...

. The herbivorous species ranges from coastal

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, through

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

, and into north-central

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. Four subspecies of the Mazama Pocket Gopher are classified as threatened under the

Endangered Species Act of 1973 The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA or "The Act"; 16 U.S.C. § 1531 et seq.) is the primary law in the United States for protecting imperiled species. Designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of ec ...

, including ''T. m. pugetensis'' (Olympia pocket gopher), ''T. m. tumuli'' (Tenino pocket gopher), ''T. m. glacialis'' (Roy Prairie pocket gopher), and ''T. m. yelmensis'' (Yelm pocket gopher). The Mazama Pocket Gopher is one of the smallest of 35 species in the pocket gopher family.

Description

Mazama pocket gophers are light brown to black in color, with adults ranging in size from in length. The Mazama pocket gopher’s distinctive features include pointed claws, long whiskers, and protruding chisel-like front teeth.Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, "Mazama Pocket Gopher ID Card", https://www.fws.gov/wafwo/documents/Gopher%20ID%20Card%204.pdf The pocket gopher serves as prey for a variety of predatory species. The species has poor vision, but excels at digging burrows with their long claws and strong limbs and its burrows are used by a number of other species.Stinson, D. W.. 2020. Mazama Pocket Gopher Recovery Plan and Periodic Status Review. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Olympia.102+vii pp. The gophers transport food and nesting material by fur pouches on their bodies and pockets within their cheeks. The gopher's diet consists of plant material, mostly vegetation, roots and tubers. According to a study conducted in South-Central Oregon between 1973 and 1974, the Mazama Pocket Gopher’s diet consists mostly of above ground parts of forbs, grasses, woody plants, and plant roots. These comprised 40%, 32%, 4%, and 24% of their diet, respectively, by volume, per a study which examined the contents of the stomachs of 110 Mazama Pocket Gophers. The diet of the Mazama Pocket Gopher adapts to the availability of different foods, however they tend to choose the most succulent foods available throughout the year.Burton, Douglas H., and Hugh C. Black. “Feeding Habits of Mazama Pocket Gophers in South-Central Oregon.” ''The Journal of Wildlife Management'', vol. 42, no. 2, iley, Wildlife Society 1978, pp. 383–90, . The gophers exhibit

asocial Asociality refers to the lack of motivation to engage in social interaction, or a preference for solitary activities. Asociality may be associated with avolition, but it can, moreover, be a manifestation of limited opportunities for social relati ...

behaviors except during the gestation and mating season. Mating is believed to be polygamous. Gestation lasts around 18 days, with each litter averaging 3 or 4 young. Females will usually have one litter per year between March and June. Pocket gophers form an angled tunnel in the ground as they dig for roots to eat. In this process, they transform the soil into a soft and sifted powder, in turn creating a unique, irregularly shaped mound with an off-center hole.

Ecology

The Mazama pocket gopher is important to the prairie ecosystem it inhabits. Each gopher is capable of turning over 3–7 tons of soil per acre per year. Their presence is beneficial for plant diversity, with one study showing 5–48% higher as a result. Frogs, toads, small mammals and lizards also use their gopher burrows. Pocket gophers form an angled tunnel in the ground as they dig for roots to eat. In this process, they transform the soil into a soft and sifted powder, in turn creating a unique, irregularly shaped mound with an off-center hole.

Distribution

The Mazama Pocket Gopher is mainly local to areas with herbaceous vegetation and well-drained glacial soil. The total population is unknown, but believed to exceed 100,000, a majority of population resides in the state of

. There are 27 known populations in the state of Washington, with an estimated 2000–5000 individuals total. The state of Washington has listed the Mazama pocket gopher and its subspecies found in the

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...

area as threatened.

Washington

The Mazama pocket gopher in Washington has suffered habitat loss, with the remaining habitats being located in unexpected places. The largest populations have been found to reside around Fort Lewis and several regional airports. The

Olympic National Park Olympic National Park is a United States national park located in the State of Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula. The park has four regions: the Pacific coastline, alpine areas, the west-side temperate rainforest, and the forests of the drier ...

cited as another possible location for a sizable population. A 2005 study reported 6000 gophers living around Olympia airport, but this study has been criticized for its conclusions. The study made count of burrows and did not engage in trapping and marking to estimate the actual number of gophers present. The population is also known to vary erratically, increasing dramatically after the mating season and declining as the year progresses due to predation. This contradicts the estimated population listed on the IUCN database which lists between 2000-5000 gophers in the state of Washington with the isolated populations being representative of all 27 populations. The population of the subspecies indigenous to the area is unknown, with two of the sub-species presumed extinct and ''Thomomys mazama douglasii''s status being uncertain and possibly extinct.

Conservation status

The species is currently listed as threatened by the state of Washington. In December 2012, a proposal was made by the

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats. The mission of the agency is "working with othe ...

to list the gopher as threatened. It would apply to the four local subspecies of the Mazama pocket gopher and their prairie habitat. Their prairie habitat in which the gophers live has been reduced by 90–95% in the last 150 years. A translocation project has been undertaken, but a mortality of 90% has been reported. The gopher is also listed as a pest in the state of Washington because it is known to cause damage to infrastructure. The gophers can destroy waterlines, endanger livestock, destroy crops and weaken levees and dams. The conservation of the species has been met with some press coverage. In July 2013,

Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...

ran a story about Fort Lewis's $3.5 million grant from the state of Washington to purchase of land during a time when workers were on furlough. Prior to this story, the grant was described by Interior Secretary Sally Jewell as "...taking an important step in addressing one of the greatest threats to wildlife in America today, loss of habitat, while helping to ensure the preservation of working landscapes and our military readiness."

Control

The gophers are known to cause damage to farms and infrastructure through burrowing or consuming vegetation. Damage mitigation can be done by installing a gopher fence, which has to be at least above ground and go down to a depth of over or until bedrock or

hardpan In soil science, agriculture and gardening, hardpan or soil pan is a dense layer of soil, usually found below the uppermost topsoil layer. There are different types of hardpan, all sharing the general characteristic of being a distinct soil layer ...

is struck. This fence is considered a temporary and not permanent defense against the gophers. Gophers are unlikely to be deterred by frightening devices like vibrating stakes, pinwheels and other sound devices. While other methods of control exist, the state of Washington's listing of the species as threatened limits control methods to non-lethal actions. Since pocket gophers feed on conifer seedlings, they threaten reforestation in the Pacific Northwest. Forest management can effectively control Mazama Gophers by altering the vegetation to no longer support the species.

Taxonomy

It is a member of the family Geomyidae and its genus is ''Thomomys''. The Geomyidae family is a group of New World rodents that is related to the Heteromyidae. Thomomys is the classification for western pocket gophers, a smooth-toothed pocket gopher without grooves on their incisors. The Mazama pocket gopher takes its species name from

Mount Mazama Mount Mazama (''Giiwas'' in the Native American language Klamath) is a complex volcano in the state of Oregon, United States, in a segment of the Cascade Volcanic Arc and Cascade Range. Most of the mountain collapsed following a major erupt ...

, the ancient volcano that exploded 6,000 years ago to form

Crater Lake Crater Lake ( Klamath: ''Giiwas'') is a volcanic crater lake in south-central Oregon in the western United States. It is the main feature of Crater Lake National Park and is famous for its deep blue color and water clarity. The lake partly fill ...

, where the species was first found. Despite its name, it does not appear in

Mazama, Washington Mazama ( ) is an unincorporated community in Okanogan County (population 158) located in the Methow Valley of Washington, on the east slopes of the North Cascades and North Cascades National Park. It is located along the North Cascades Highway ( ...

Subspecies

Subspecies of the Mazama pocket gopher include: *†''

Thomomys mazama tacomensis The Tacoma pocket gopher (''Thomomys mazama tacomensis'') was a subspecies of the Mazama pocket gopher that was restricted to a few isolated populations in the southern Puget Sound area and on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington Washington commo ...

'' - the extinct Tacoma pocket gopher *†'' Thomomys mazama louiei'' - presumed extinct *'' Thomomys mazama couchi'' - a vulnerable form in the

area. *'' Thomomys mazama pugetensis'' - a vulnerable form in the

area. *'' Thomomys mazama tumuli'' - a vulnerable form in the

area. *'' Thomomys mazama yelmensis'' - a vulnerable form in the

area.