This fall, I have received an unprecedented number of questions about moles and voles. If I have learned anything from those questions, it’s that few things make an Islander’s heart sink faster than the sudden appearance of raised ridges zig-zagging through a lawn or small holes near the base of garden plants. A person’s first thought (besides I gotta call that Natural Neighbors guy!) is usually Something’s wrecking my lawn! The next thought, inevitably: How do I get rid of it?
Before you grab a trap or a shovel, or start spreading repellents over your lawn, take a deep breath. While I would personally love to take this opportunity to beat my drum and start writing about how it’s the American lawn that is truly the unnatural thing in this equation, I will simply leave that seed of an idea planted here in this sentence and allow it to grow in your mind. In fact, your “problem” is actually a sign of a healthy landscape — because the culprits, moles and voles, are far more fascinating (and far less menacing) than most people realize.
Meet the Eastern Mole: The Vineyard’s Unsung Soil Engineer
Eastern moles (Scalopus aquaticus) are one of the Vineyard’s most misunderstood creatures. You rarely see them, but they’re busy down there, digging through the soil like little underground engineers. Beneath our lawns, gardens, and field edges, the eastern mole spends nearly its entire life underground. With paddle-like forelimbs and velvety gray fur, it’s perfectly adapted for tunneling through sandy or loamy Vineyard soils.
Despite their reputation, moles aren’t eating your plants. Their diet consists mostly of earthworms, beetle larvae, and other soil invertebrates. A single mole can eat its weight in grubs every day — natural pest control at its finest. In doing so, they also aerate the soil, improving water movement and root growth.
Yes, there is no doubt their raised tunnels can make a mess of a manicured lawn. But what they leave behind — loosened soil, improved drainage, and fewer grubs — is a net gain for the ecosystem. In fact, if your lawn or meadow has moles, it’s often a sign of healthy, living soil beneath your feet. Think of them as natural rototillers who work for free.
Meet the Meadow Vole: The Vineyard’s Little Forager
Meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus) are the ones most likely to nibble on roots or bark, and they’re often the reason people think “moles” are eating their plants. These little meadow mice live above ground but love to use old mole tunnels to move around safely.
Unlike moles, voles are herbivores: they eat roots, bulbs, and grasses, and sometimes chew the bark off shrubs or young trees in winter. They’re active all year, but their damage is most noticeable when snow melts and you see trails through the grass or gnawed bark at the base of plants.
Every few years, voles have what’s known as a “boom season.” A mild winter and lots of food can make the vole populations explode. But nature has a way of balancing things out. When vole numbers go up, Vineyard predators like barn owls, red-tailed hawks, and even black racers zero in on the abundance. Within a year or two, vole numbers drop back down naturally.
The Boom and Bust Cycle
With all the emails I have received, along with calls on the Natural Neighbors Hotline (well, we don’t really have a hotline, but the phone sometimes rings like one!), I feel safe assuming that this is a boom year for meadow voles. During a boom year, a local population of voles can increase exponentially, in numbers that could make a rabbit blush. They quickly eat themselves out of house and home, all the while getting gobbled up by predators until their population crashes.
Voles go through these natural cycles every three to five years, while moles stay pretty steady in number. So if you suddenly notice a ton of vole trails one year, it doesn’t mean they’re taking over the Island — it’s just a temporary population high.
As for moles, they’re usually alone. What looks like a dozen invaders is probably just one busy individual making the rounds. They’ll stick around as long as the soil stays soft and the food keeps coming, then quietly move on.
For a fascinating article on what happens when the boom and bust cycle changes, click on this article published in the Independent
Dispelling Myths
Myth 1: Moles eat your plants.
Nope! They’re after insects, not roots or bulbs. If your plants are chewed, it’s likely voles or some other rodent.
Myth 2: Moles and voles ruin ecosystems.
Actually, the opposite. Moles improve soil structure and control grubs, while voles feed owls, hawks, herons and snakes. They’re both important parts of the Vineyard’s natural food web.
Myth 3: If you see tunnels, you’re overrun.
Unlikely. Moles are solitary and cover large territories. What looks like an “infestation” is often just one industrious individual.
A Balanced Ecosystem at Work
It helps to remember that these small creatures are vital to the Island’s ecological balance. The Vineyard’s patchwork of unique coastal and sandplain ecosystems that combine oak forests and pine barrens, heathland, and grasslands — along with your lawn — supports a complex food web, and moles and voles are at its foundation.
A mole tunneling through your lawn is quietly improving soil structure and keeping grub populations in check. A vole scurrying under cover is feeding a hungry barn owl raising its chicks in a nest box nearby. Even their occasional “nuisance” behavior plays a part in the natural rhythm of things.
Living in Harmony
There’s no need to wage war on moles and voles. Instead, a few practical steps can help reduce conflicts:
- Encourage predators. Barn owls, snakes, and hawks are your natural vole control. Native plantings, owl boxes, hibernaculum, and meadow edges help them thrive.
- Plant smart. Use tree guards on young fruit trees or shrubs if vole damage is a concern.
- Avoid chemicals. Insecticides that kill grubs remove a mole’s food source, and they harm the rest of the life in your soil, including pollinators. A healthy, biodiverse yard is the best long-term solution.
- Be patient. Populations rise and fall naturally. What feels like an invasion one year usually fades by the next.
A Sign of Life Below the Surface
On Martha’s Vineyard, where we are trying hard to make sure that the land remains wild and connected, moles and voles are reminders that nature still thrives just beneath the surface. So next time you notice a raised ridge winding through your lawn or a little burrow hole near a garden bed, think twice before declaring war. Take it as a small reminder that your soil is alive, your yard is part of something bigger, and that even the tiniest creatures have a place in the Island’s natural rhythm.
After all, what’s happening underground is every bit as important as what’s blooming above.
If you would like to learn more about hands off lawn care Natural Neighbors can help you. Find out more about our program by clicking HERE, and while you are there, sign up for a visit, and we will come by to help get you started on your healthy habitat journey! We happily share our knowledge and resources at no cost to you, and while we are at it, we find many other ways for you to support biodiversity in your yard.
