Radio Script
1999

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Dances with Voles
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INTRO: Scientists who study popular animals like whales and bears usually garner a lot of media attention. But rodents have a lot to offer, too. As Arctic Science Journeys producer Doug Schneider reports, yellow-cheeked voles fill an important niche in the subarctic ecosystem.

STORY: LEHMKUHL: "And they'd sit there, and eat and watch. And whenever anything would happen they'd start whistling. And then all the other voles would start whistling.

For each of the last three summers, as Karin Lehmkuhl walked through Alaska's remote Nowitna National Wildlife Refuge, the whistling serenade of yellow-cheeked voles was never far away.

LEHMKUHL: "They go... (whistle sounds). It's pretty high-pitched."

The whistling was good company to Lehmkuhl as she spent weeks in the forest studying yellow-cheeked voles for her master's degree at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

LEHMKUHL: "It's neat to work that intensively with one species. The more I learned, the more questions I had. So I came away thinking that yellow-cheeked voles are the best animal on the planet, of course."

Lehmkuhl studied yellow-cheeked voles because the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wanted to know how forest fires affected marten, a furbearer highly prized by trappers. Since voles are a favorite food of marten, it seemed logical to learn more about them. But first she had to catch the voles. For this, Lehmkuhl used live traps.

LEHMKUHL: "These voles are colonial so they have these runways in their colonies. When they're foraging they are off their runways but when they hit their runways they just take off and run really fast to get home. So we'd put the trap right on their runway, and they run right into them."

Some voles were too smart to be caught. Instead they filled the trap with dirt or re-routed the trail around the trap. Other voles seemed to enjoy getting caught.

LEHMKUHL: "They seem to be pretty trap happy, which means that once they get trapped they enjoy the experience and seem to come back for some reason. We'd catch it every time and sometimes we'd catch it twice in the same session. We'd let it out and go further along the trail and it'd be back in a trap again, waiting for us to let it out."

Alaska is home to several species of voles--the most abundant being the red-backed and meadow voles. While most voles are smaller than a mouse, the yellow-cheeked vole is as big as a hamster--making it North America's largest microtene rodent.

After following hundreds of yellow-cheeked voles, Lehmkuhl learned that they preferred burned areas where new white spruce trees were growing. She says that's because there was usually lots of herbs and grasses to eat. And as is nature's way, there are lots of critters that like to eat the voles, too.

LEHMKUHL: "When we were at the really busy sites where there were lots of voles, we saw a lot of owls, pine marten, foxes, weasels. So as a predator if you find one of these pockets of voles that's a pretty good meal. Plus the fact that they're just so big that when you catch one you get a pretty big sandwich."

When Lehmkuhl returns to the refuge as a park ranger next summer, her attention will shift to other animals. But she says she'll always have a soft spot for these furry mammals with yellow cheeks.

LEHMKUHL: "I'll always feel a little warmth in my heart when I walk along the stream bank and hear yellow-cheeked voles whistling at me."

OUTRO: This is Arctic Science Journeys, a production of the Alaska Sea Grant Program and the University of Alaska Fairbanks. I'm Doug Schneider.

Our thanks to the following individual for help in the preparation of this script:

Karin Lehmkuhl
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Galena, Alaska 99741
907-656-1231
ftkll@aurora.alaska.edu

If you'd like more information about the Nowitna National Wildlife Refuge, check out this website:

http://www.r7.fws.gov/nwr/nowitna/nownwr.html