Final report for OW21-364
Project Information
Farmers managing different cropping systems lack detailed research-based information about vole management strategies other than rodenticides. For the educational component, we are providing current information about integrated vole management strategies including predators, habitat management and trapping. Our research focusses on innovative trapping strategies in the winter to interrupt spring reproduction and exponential population growth. We are investigating trap site identification methods (canine assisted trapping and human visual cue detection). We hypothesize that canine assistance can increase trapping efficiency and efficacy, strengthening vole management. We also investigated burrow architecture with forced smoke.
Synthetic rodenticides are hazardous to non-target wildlife, including threatened or endangered species. They can be effective tools but—like other pesticides—are best used as part of an integrated management approach. This project will provide new insight into vole behavior, tunnel architecture, and trapping strategies that will enhance vole management on organic and conventional farms.
We will publish research findings in a peer-refereed journal, write a new Extension Publication on ecological vole management, and establish training guidelines for canine-assisted trapping. We will host on-farm field days and present our findings at farmer conferences. We are maintaining a project blog and writing newsletter articles to engage a wider audience.
Current research-based information about ecological vole management is lacking for Oregon farmers. We hope this project will be the first of many to fill this gap.
- Investigate canine vole scent detection and trapping strategies
- Study vole burrow architecture and behavior
- Disseminate results and evaluate adoption and impact
Cooperators
- - Producer
- - Technical Advisor
- - Producer
- - Producer
- - Producer
- (Researcher)
- - Producer
- - Technical Advisor
- - Producer
Research
Preliminary Work
We received final approval (IACUC-2021-0187) to work with voles and detection dogs on August 31, 2021; the approval expired August 30, 2024. We started recruiting dog and handler teams (canine teams) in May 2021, and by late August we had recruited seven teams for our first year of vole detection training. In July and August 2021, we developed vole detection and trapping protocols and determined plot size by incorporating what we learned by timing ourselves doing these tasks in dairy pasture, vegetable farm, and hazelnut orchard settings. To assess vole tunnel connectivity, we used a Burgess™ propane Insect Fogger with an 18” x ¾” flexible conduit pipe extension on the nozzle to inject vegetable oil smoke down entrance holes. We identified an extensive network of entrance holes and blew smoke for 3-5 minutes down one hole near the edge of the network. As smoke emerged from adjacent holes we plugged them with burlap. When the smoke emerged slowly from distant holes due to loss of pressure, we moved the fogger to the most distant hole smoke escaped from in a step-wise fashion.
Dog Training
In September and October 2021, we constructed a vole detection training arena at OSU’s Fairplay Farm in Corvallis using a trench design adapted from Earthdog training tunnels and with discrete holes drilled in the plywood covering the network. We purchased twelve PVC Barn Hunt rat tubes to contain live voles during nose work training; the design adapted was from the 2019 Barn Hunt Association rule book. Nose work training workshops with seven nose work dog-and-handler teams and our professional dog trainer started in November 2021. Training started with a lie-down alert to an object with no odor. We transferred this lie-down alert to voles in tubes and empty tubes above the ground. Next, we placed the tubes with and without voles in the covered trenches and discrete holes in the training arena and reinforced the lie-down alert.
The voles used for nose work training of the dogs were captured in late October and early November. We used Sherman folding traps to catch live voles at a dairy in Corvallis. Six captured voles were subsequently housed at OSU’s Research Animal Isolation Laboratory (RAIL) for use during canine detection training. Two voles were found dead in the Sherman traps. Dr. J. Sargent, DVM, Director of the OSU Laboratory Animal Resources Center and OSU attending veterinarian, conducted necropsies and testing that identified leptospirosis infection in the dead voles. Pooled urine samples from the six live voles housed at RAIL also tested positive for leptospirosis, so our training with live voles was discontinued pending revision of our vole handling procedures. After consulting with OSU physicians and veterinarians, the voles were labeled as biohazards and new standard operating procedures (SOPs) for vole handling were developed and implemented for all aspects of housing, transportation, handling, and exposure to dogs and dog handlers. The SOPs included education of dog handlers and strong encouragement to complete leptospirosis vaccination for those dogs not already vaccinated. Dr. Sargent attended one of our nose work sessions to observe our vole handling and dog interaction procedures.
One of the animal caretakers at RAIL became ill with a presumed but unconfirmed case of leptospirosis, at which point Dr. Sargent and the OSU medical advisors terminated our work with live voles, which were subsequently euthanized with isoflurane on January 19, 2022. Blood samples from each vole showed that three were positive for leptospirosis. Based on consultations with canine detection experts around the U.S. we adapted our nose work training using three new approaches that avoided live vole handling: 1) we transferred vole scent to cotton swabs, 2) we freeze-dried voles, and 3) we trained dogs in suspected vole hot spots.
We transferred vole scent to cotton swabs in two ways: 1) swabs placed in metal strainers were hung in the cages for about 72 hours before euthanizing the voles, and 2) at the time of death, the voles were rubbed with cotton swabs. Swabs used for these two types of scent transfer were stored separately for potential use later in scent training. After the voles were euthanized, they were immediately placed in coolers on dry ice to prevent formation of decomposition compounds. Within two hours they were placed in a -80°F freezer to await preservation by freeze drying on a unit equipped with a HEPA filter on the exhaust, per OSU’s Biological Safety Officer. On January 25, we transferred the voles from the freezer to the freeze dryer. On January 27 after approximately 48 hours the freeze dryer automatically shut off, and the voles were removed and stored in amber glass jars with desiccant for use in scent training.
Cotton swabs that had been hung from vole cages elicited a slightly greater response from the dogs. We placed the freeze-dried voles in shallow mason jars with perforated lids and then placed those in shallow holes in a field at Fairplay Farm, which also had active vole colonies. The dogs did not give a reliable alert to the freeze-dried voles, but some dogs alerted on apparently active voles holes. Therefore, we decided to conduct canine training workshops at suspected vole hotspots. First, we returned to the Corvallis dairy where we had caught the live voles for training. Although a few dogs alerted on some holes, we didn’t catch any voles. Then we moved to a Corvallis-area sheep pasture that reported high vole damage. More of the dogs alerted on voles there, and we caught 9 voles and 3 shrews at the first field training at that location and 3 voles at the second. Finally, we moved to a collaborating dairy near Monmouth with heavy vole pressure and caught 15 voles. At each location, we recorded the number of holes identified as active (“sets”) by the canine teams, and we used the number of voles caught per set to select four dog and handler teams for the 2022 field work; three teams (dogs Daphne, Sierra and Bijou) were available for the trials.
The approach of training dogs in vole hotspots appeared to be the most successful; however we noticed during the early winter that apparent vole abundance (via sign and sightings) had declined at some locations, suggesting that the population may have dropped after two-to-three successive years of extremely high vole populations and crop damage. This fits the "boom and bust" irruptive pattern that vole populations are known for. The multiple delays due to the complications described above caused us to be out of sync with our system's prime population-reduction season (January–February), but we conducted field trials in each cropping system to further refine our methodology.
In 2023, dog Reacher replaced Bijou for the research trial. Reacher and his handler are a trained conservation detection team therefore they bring a different training and working approach than competition nose work teams. Reacher was introduced to vole scent by following Daphne and Sierra during vole searches and being awarded for alerts that were consistent with Daphne and Sierra’s alerts. Reacher’s handler supplemented this training by transferring vole scent from the freeze-dried voles to the interior of foam tubes typically used to insulate pipes. The foam tubes were placed in cinder blocks for introductory scent discrimination training using an approach developed by Working Dogs for Conservation. When Reacher was alerting reliably on vole scent in this setting, his handler used the foam tubes as hides for field training. Blank decoys (foam tubes with no vole scent) and hides with vole scent were placed in small holes in the ground, mimicking a natural vole hole with fresh vole odor. Reacher was rewarded when he alerted by sitting next to the hides with vole scent. This training continued until Reacher was reliably alerting on hides with vole scent but not decoys, and his handler was confident that they were ready to start field work.
In 2024 we received a no-cost extension until December 31, 2024. We continued the field research at one location with larger plot sizes (1/2 acre) searched solely by the professional canine team.
Trapping and crop damage
Our first on-farm trapping season started on March 14, 2022 and ended on March 25, 2022. Five farm locations were surveyed for vole activity with a pair of treatment plots (canine assisted and human searching) on each farm for a total of ten quarter-acre plots. Plot corners were marked with wood stakes. For each treatment pair of plots, one plot was surveyed by a canine-handler team and the other plot was searched by a person alone. The same person served as the human-alone searcher for all plots. During canine searches, 300-foot long tape measures or rope were laid around the perimeter of the plot to help dog handlers keep their dogs within the plots. Holes identified as occupied during canine-assisted and unassisted-human searching were marked with flags. Trap placement began within 30 minutes of the end of the survey. Two to four traps (a “trap set”) were set around most of the holes identified. The number of traps varied according to the number of runways at each hole, with a few holes getting five to eight traps. Burlap squares approximately 6”x6” were used to plug holes (presumed alternative burrow entrances) within a 1 m diameter of each hole with trap sets, based on the earlier observations with forced smoke. Milk carton roofs were installed above trap sets to reduce non-target catches and false triggers from wind, rain, or larger animals. Trap sets were left overnight and then checked and removed approximately 24 hours after initial trap setting. Preliminary trapping during the dog training phase indicated that few voles were caught in traps reset for a second day and more non-target species, especially shrews, were caught.
During the 2022 trials, it became apparent that different cropping systems had pros and cons for the field trials. Regular tillage in vegetable production fields disrupts vole tunnels; after tillage, voles gradually move into the production fields and can cause substantial damage. This disturbance and subsequent vole migration confounds our main research question. Operators of conventional hazelnut orchards spray hazelnut suckers, use rodenticides and sometimes apply residual herbicides to maintain a bare orchard floor. These practices posed safety concerns for our search teams and can impact vole populations. One vegetable farm and the hazelnut orchard had relatively high populations of deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) during the 2022 trapping season; this is a non-target species in this project.
During the summer of 2022 we scouted several organic or low input pasture, hay and hazelnut sites and found sporadic evidence of recent vole activity. Pasture and hay fields appeared to have the most consistent signs, and farmer reports of recent vole activity at the sites we visited. For these reasons (vole disturbance from tillage, high incidence of non-target species at some sites, pesticide safety concerns, and signs and reports of recent vole activity) we decided to conduct the 2023 field trials in pastures or hay fields that had not recently been reseeded. Regional vole populations crashed prior to the 2023 season. We surveyed several sites from July to December 2022 and identified sites that still had apparently high levels of vole activity. Heavy rain and ponding at some sites further limited our options, and in December 2022 we selected three sites for the 2023 field trials. We set up two pairs of three plots (one canine assisted, one human searching, one untrapped control) on each of three dairy farms.
Each site was trapped approximate every 14 days from early January until the first juvenile voles were trapped in mid-March, using the same searching and trapping methods described above.
Forage damage assessment protocols include visual assessments of ground cover using the Daubenmire Method described in Coulloudon et al. 1999 (pp 55-63) and the number of vole holes in eight 50 x 50cm quadrats, and collecting dry matter samples from 50 x 25cm quadrats: eight along the transects and two additional quadrats visually identified with severe vole damage. We conducted spring damage assessments of all treatment plots from March 28 to April 3 and again from June 20 to 23, 2023.
Having established that canine assistance does make trap-site selection more time-efficient, we extended our grant so that we could include a third pilot experiment related to the efficacy of winter and early spring trapping. We hypothesized that winter and early spring trapping increases subsequent forage biomass. We increased our plot size from ¼-acre to ½-acre in an organic clover hay field with high vole incidence in 2023. We set up three replicates of two treatments: canine assisted trapping (all detections conducted by the professional team) and an untrapped control. Traps were set approximately every two to three weeks from January to mid-March, 2024 ending when juveniles were found as in previous years. An ice-storm delayed trapping in mid-January. Traps were set on January 4 and 23, February 1 and 12 and March 7 and 15, using the searching and trapping methods as previously described. As a side note, on January 16 we visited the research field during the ice storm with two hunting terriers, they searched outside the research plots and identified eight spots under the ice with their natural digging behavior. We found signs of recent vole activity at all the spots they identified (e.g. recent feeding and collection of nesting material) thereby illustrating well-known facts that predators can detect the scent of their prey through the ice and that the voles are active under the ice.
Vole damage assessments and forage samples were collected on December 14, 2023 (before trapping), and March 29 and May 30, 2024 (after trapping concluded). We used the same biomass sampling method described above with two modifications: 1) we conducted pre-trapping forage assessments in order to calculate biomass differences before and after trapping, and 2) rather than sampling along transects and at sites of severe damage, we randomly placed 10 quadrats within each of the trapped and un-trapped plots. To determine quadrat sampling sites, we walked down and across each plot a specified number of paces as determined by a random number generator. Within the quadrats, we collected visual Daubenmire cover data, counted vole holes and clipped biomass that was immediately dried and then weighed. We were able to expand and leverage WSARE’s support, by initiating two additional collaborations in 2024. Dr. Christy Tanner (OSU) used drone imagery to estimate plant growth in the trapped and untrapped plots the same weeks as our forage samplings, and Dr. Shayan Ghajar (OSU) used satellite imagery to estimate plant growth in the plots.
The 2022 pilot season was extremely valuable for refining our protocols, testing our datasheets, and developing our database. Voles were trapped at all five sites, with the greatest numbers in the pastures. Deer mice were caught at NWREC (hazelnuts) and 47th Avenue Farm (vegetables). Two shrews each were caught at Sar-Ben Farms (pasture) and at Diggin’ Roots Farm (vegetables), and one was caught at 47th Ave. Farm (vegetables). At 47th Ave. Farm we used the insecticide fogger to observe tunnel connectivity in an undisturbed headland with numerous entrance holes. Within a 120 ft^2 area smoke emerged from more than 40 holes that opened to interconnected tunnels determined with the step-wise method described above.
Although vole trapping rate (voles per trap set) was essentially the same between canine and human searching (0.40 and 0.41 voles/trap set, respectively), canine teams were far more time efficient (0.48 vs. 0.33 voles/minute of searching, respectively). Across all sites, canine-assisted trapping took about half as long as human detection. The human searcher chose more sets for trapping (168 vs. 116), which added to the time required. Canine teams sometimes alerted on more than one hole in close proximity to connecting tunnels (linked trap sets); all of these holes were trapped and counted separately. When they were combined, the canine trap rates improved slightly when calculated as voles/trap set.
Two of the canine-identified holes/trap-sets caught deer mice; at one of these sites the human-identified hole/trap-set also caught deer mice. They are known to use vole (and other species’) burrow systems, and as seed eaters they are less likely than voles to damage crops. Canine detection rates improved slightly when deer mice were included in total rodent trap counts (voles and mice).
Vole populations tend to be lower over the winter and stay relatively low until breeding starts, so winter trapping (i.e., January through March when the first juveniles are trapped) is more likely to reduce crop damage by reducing a population’s reproductive capacity than trapping later in the season. The IACUC approval process with its multiple revisions and the leptospirosis infection issues delayed our dog training and subsequently delayed our 2022 field work until mid-March. At that time, we caught juvenile voles along with adults, so we decided to conduct only one round of field trapping at all farms retained for the season in order to inform adjustments to our protocols for 2023.
During the single-bout pilot in March 2022, a total of 284 trap sets were made after a total of 273 minutes of search time, across team types. Across the three canine teams, a total of 116 trap sets were located by canine-assistance in 97 minutes of search time, resulting in 47 vole captures, 10 non-target captures, and a vole trap rate (voles/trap set) of 0.41 with 0.48 voles trapped per minute search time. There was notable variation in efficiency among the 3 dog teams, ranging from 0.29 to 0.65 voles trapped/minute of search time. The unassisted human trapper set 168 trap sets after 232 minutes of search time, caught 67 voles and 9 non-target animals, for a vole trap rate of 0.40 with 0.29 voles trapped per minute search time. The non-target captures consisted of deer mice and shrews.
Vole populations crashed in the winter of 2022-23. Over the entire season, canine-assisted teams searched a total of 593 minutes and placed 2,141 trap sets, killing 0.029 voles/trap set with an efficiency of 0.108 voles/minute searched. The unassisted human searched 1,207 minutes and placed 1,276 trap sets, killing 0.047 voles/trap set with an efficiency of 0.049 voles/minute searched. Across team type, 124 voles and 19 non-target animals were removed.
Spring 2023 (March 28 to April 3) crop damage estimates showed statistically significant difference between treatments despite relatively high standard deviations, with the canine assisted trapping plots showing greater dry crop biomass (3,768 lb/ac) compared to the human trapped and control plots (2,912 lb/ac and 2,947 lb/ac respectively). This difference did not persist to the summer (June 20-23) damage assessment, when all treatments were essentially the same, with 4,516, 4,481, and 4,574 lb/ac dry matter for the canine-assisted, human, and control plots respectively.
Over six trapping events in 2024 (January 4 to March 15), we placed 710 trap sets (3,182 individual traps) at locations identified by the canine detection team in the three ½-acre plots. Traps were collected the day after setting traps, and we retrieved a total of 37 voles and 3 deer mice during the 2024 trapping season. 32 of the voles and 1 deer mouse were caught by February 1, with only 5 voles and 2 deer mice caught from February 12 to March 15. We placed similar numbers of traps from January 4 to February 1 when we caught 32 voles (389 trap sets with 1,650 traps) as we did from Feb 12 to Mar 15 (321 trap sets with 1,532 traps) when we only caught five voles. The dog handler reported that Reacher (detection dog) kept pulling his handler out of the trapped plots into untrapped areas before returning to the trapped plots. The handler interpreted this to mean that Reacher wanted to search outside the plots. Due to this low trapping success in February and March our canine detection team scouted an adjacent ½-acre clover field (about 75 yards away) on March 15 that had not been trapped to confirm the efficacy of our method (specifically that the canine was identifying holes likely to produce a capture) in the presence of voles. We placed 56 trap sets (258 traps) and caught 10 voles and no deer mice, confirming that our method was effective, and suggesting that we had trapped out the experimental ½ acre plots by February 1.
There is no way for a dog handler to confirm whether an alert is correct when the target is out of site underground. When Reacher was forced to stay within the ½ acre plots that had apparently been trapped out, he may have kept alerting at holes with relatively strong residual vole scent in order to secure the food reward. Nevertheless, canine detection increased searching efficiency in our 2023 comparison. Despite “false” or more positive alerts in ratio to successful traps, in this research setting, canine assisted trapping appears to be promising. These data indicate that we trapped out three ½-acre plots after two to three trapping events, and Reacher’s desire to search beyond the trapped treatment plots in February and March suggests that he could have helped us effectively trap out larger areas if we had been working on a larger scale for pest management purposes rather than research.
Dry clover biomass was similar in both treatments before trapping started (Dec 14, 2023; 1,710 kg/ha mean in control plot and 1731.5 kg/ha mean in trapped plots with a range of 1,361 to 1,938 kg/ha across all plots). The mean difference in dry biomass (Mar 29 – Dec 14 and May 30 – Dec 14 respectively) was 18.1% greater in the trapped plots than control plots on Mar 29 (1,204 kg/ha vs. 1,020 kg/ha) and 11.5% greater on May 30 (1,672 kg/ha vs. 1,499 kg/ha). When evaluated as ratios (Mar 29 / Dec 14 and May 30 / Dec 14 respectively) trapped plots had a 5.6% greater biomass than control plots on Mar 29 and a 2.8% greater ratio on May 30. The clover field was cut for hay about 3-weeks before our planned May 30 biomass measurements. Winter trapping with canine assistance in fact does appear to result in increased clover hay biomass compared to untrapped plots. We are doing further statistical analysis as we continue developing our manuscript for submission to the Journal of the National Association of County Agricultural Agents or a similar outlet.
Sanchez presented results from our 2022-23 research at the 31st Vertebrate Pest Conference (March 2024) and the accompanying brief, “Canine-assistance to increase vole-trapping efficiency and effectiveness” was published in the online Conference Proceedings (Sanchez, et al., 2024; https://escholarship.org/uc/item/083803pk).
Research Outcomes
We observed an extremely high vole population in one hay field in late fall of 2022, and the farmer reported running over voles with their 4-wheeler at night. The hunting terriers we used to scout the field caught five voles within about 40 minutes, so we placed a trial in the field. However, by January 2023 the population had crashed to undetectable levels. The gray-tailed vole species endemic to our region (Microtus canicaudus) is well-known to exhibit significant population fluctuations.
In general, vole populations dropped significantly during the funding period of this project. Several anecdotal reports in late 2024 and early 2025 indicate that their populations are beginning to rebound quickly. Vole irruptions have often prompted grant submissions here and in other regions challenged by cyclic voles. Unfortunately, the nature of multi-year rodent cycles, particularly the population decline phases, can coincide with grant-seeking success, thus frustrating both the researchers and the producers awaiting results. Steady funding and consistent research across population cycles would provide more insight into factors influencing population density and crop damage of perennially important mammalian pests like voles.
When our live-caught voles were found to be positive for Leptospirosis our University’s attending veterinarian applied for internal seed grant funding to identify which Leptospirosis serovars were present in the current incidence in Oregon. This coincided with an additional veterinary research faculty (Beechler) and doctoral student launching a project to describe the prevalence and (serovar) diversity across species opportunistically collected across western Oregon. They found that a significant portion of the voles we caught, and mammals collected by other collaborators, were infected with Leptospira spp. bacteria. Leptospirosis transmits to dogs and humans, so enhanced Biosecurity Standard Operating Procedures and sanitary precautions should be observed when studying voles.
Our work suggests that canine assisted vole management could be useful at larger scales than the plot sizes used in this project. Additional work evaluating the potential to scale up canine assisted detection with trapping and other control methods (e.g. baits, raptor perches, snake habitat, etc.) would be helpful. Vole detection has unique challenges such as: infectious disease risk; securing target scent for dog training; and the inability to confirm correct or incorrect alerts by dogs in free-ranging field conditions. These challenges are not insurmountable and are addressed in other detection dog projects (e.g., human disease detection), but the logistics and economics of human health and agricultural pest control are different. Future studies that include an economic analysis will also be helpful.
Canine assisted vole detection was very popular as a concept in our outreach events. Partly because it resonated with anecdotal observations of farmers who own high prey drive dogs or are familiar with canine detection. In this project we resorted to freeze dried voles to train our detection dogs due to Leptospirosis risk. Some companies provide commercially available training scents for retrieving and hunting dogs. It may be possible to formulate commercially available scent for voles and other rodent pests that could enhance canine assisted trapping and potentially improve the specificity of species being detected.
Education and Outreach
Participation Summary:
The OSU Rodent Management Extension working group was formed in 2021 with Nik Wiman (co-PI) as Chair and 12 other members including all OSU project collaborators on this grant. During our first working group meeting in March 2021, we identified three new vole related projects at OSU including this one. Since then, we have collaborated with an OSU colleague (Dr. Christy Tanner) who is using drones to assess vole damage. She has presented her research and demonstrated the drone during our project workshops and is collaborating in our 2024 field trials. We have also collaborated with the OSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital by donated voles caught during our project to their study of Leptospirosis in wild mammals.
We have created a project blog (https://blogs.oregonstate.edu/voles) and have so far published six posts using photos from our training and field trials. In late 2022 and early 2023, we published four newsletter articles about the project. “Canine detection and vole management on organic farms: new project update” in Oregon Small Farm News; “Dogging your voles” in Digger Magazine, “Extension field day highlights use of canines to detect vole” in OSU Extension Service News (reprinted in Morning Ag Clips), and “Can dogs help in the annual struggle with voles?” in Pacific Nut Producers’ Magazine. We filmed video footage that illustrates crop damage, human and canine-assisted trapping, and interviews with an experienced farmer and experienced dog handler. We have written scripts, prepared slides, and are editing sequences for online availability.
On November 9, 2021 we held our first field day for project collaborators at OSU's North Willamette Research & Extension Center from 2:30-5:30. Representatives from Oregon Department of Agriculture’s Pesticide Division discussed their interest in alternative rodent management and pesticide risk reduction. Sanchez and Andrews described the research and Extension objectives for the project, and the group discussed how to communicate during the project. Sanchez also described current knowledge on vole ecology. Cruickshank, Wiman, and Andrews facilitated a farmer-to-farmer discussion about vole management and trapping strategies. Two experienced dog handlers conducted a nose work demonstration using competition nose work scents (birch, anise, and clove oil) in a challenging outdoor windy environment with many competing odors of interest. Their successful search demonstrated that dogs can have strong “odor-obedience” and specificity.
2022-23 Workshops: On December 1, 2022 we held our second workshop at Chemeketa Community College in Salem that was open to a wider audience: “Voles, Drones and Dogs”. 35 people attended the 3.5 hour workshop including 17 farmers and 18 other agricultural professionals. Participating farmers reported high levels of vole damage in vineyards, pastures, orchards, grass seed, vegetables and flowers. Andrews discussed recent vole damage observations and described how to correctly identify common rodents; Matthew Bucy from Oregon Department of Agriculture gave a regulatory update; Sanchez described vole ecology as it relates to vole management; and Christy Tanner from OSU Extension described her work using drones to detect and quantify vole damage in large grass seed fields. Radio interference made a drone demonstration impossible so Tanner described the drone and its features during the break. Sanchez and Andrews then described this project, 2022 results and 2023 plans in detail, and presented videos and photos of canine-assisted and human vole trapping. Cruickshank and Andrews then facilitated a group discussion for the final 40 minutes of the workshop.
On February 18, 2023 Andrews and Sanchez hosted a 1 hour and 45 minute workshop at the OSU Small Farms Conference in Corvallis: “Voles: their ecology, tales from the field, and can dogs help trap them?”, approximately 100 people attended. Of the 55 evaluations completed, 91% were farmers and 9% were other agricultural professionals. Sanchez and Andrews presented information and videos from the project, and adapted other content from the December 1 workshop for this audience and venue. Due to the larger audience, we facilitated a 45-minute panel discussion with Jon Bansen and Laura Masterson, dairy and vegetable farmers, respectively, who have experience with vole management and are collaborators in this project.
2023-24 Workshops: On November 1, 2023 we hosted a “Voles, Drones and Dogs” field day at OSU’s North Willamette Research and Extension Center in Aurora, OR. About 20 people attended and seven completed evaluations. This event included information on rodent identification and vole ecology. Research updates on crop damage assessment using drones, bait boxes, and canine assisted trapping were also presented. Field demonstrations included demonstrations of human- and canine assisted trapping and of the aerial drone. Farmer-to-farmer discussion was encouraged throughout the event.
On February 23, 2024, Andrews and Evie Smith (OSU Small Farms program) hosted a 2 hour and 30 minute workshop and trapping demonstration on a farm near Yachats, Oregon with about 17 in attendance. This event was requested by the local Extension agent because clients in her area could not attend the November 1 event in Aurora. Andrews presented information on rodent identification and vole ecology with research updates from the canine-assisted trapping project. After the presentation and group discussion he demonstrated human- and canine-assisted trapping in the field.
Sanchez, Bobo-Shisler and Andrews organized an on-farm “Voles, Dogs and Raptors” field day on April 11, 2024, with about 44 people attending. The host farmer also provided the site of our 2024 field trial. Over several years, he had invested in wildlife habitat and owl boxes and was interested in installing raptor perches to enhance vole predation. We installed six perches in one field (four were 9ft tall on t-posts; two were about 17ft tall on oak posts), and we recruited a biologist specializing in raptor ecology as a co-presenter. This event included information on vole ecology, raptor ecology and hunting techniques, and a canine -assisted trapping research update. Field demonstrations included human- and canine assisted-trapping demonstrations and raptor pole production, placement, and use. We installed motion-activated game cameras below each perch 1 week before the event and recorded raptor visitations with still photographs and short video. Over 45 camera days (images from one camera over 24 hours) 32 visitations were recorded, including 11 red-tailed hawks, 19 kestrels and two Great Horned owls. The hawks seemed to prefer the taller perches, kestrels regularly visited both, and the owls visited the shorter perches.
Evaluation questions were generally consistent within each topic at all events. Participants were asked to identify their role in agriculture and evaluate their learning using a yes / no response and a 5-point Likert scale with 5 representing the most learning. Some also responded to open-ended questions.
Sanchez was invited to present a “Vole Ecology and Management” workshop at The VEG: Vegetable Education Group meeting at the OSU-North Willamette Research and Extension Center in Aurora, OR on February 12, 2025. About 25 people attended in person with another six online.
A combined 77 participants responded to the surveys at the December 1, 2022 and February 18, 2023 workshops (approximately 135 participants), and most responses were similar at both events. Every respondent said the workshops were useful with an average rating of 4.47/5. All but one respondent thought canine assisted trapping could be useful for locating and controlling voles (4.25/5), and everyone said they learned to set snap traps more effectively (4.19/5). 75 of the 77 respondents improved their ability to recognize voles and vole damage (4.25/5) and the same number improved their ability to prevent vole damage early in the year (4.36/5). Everyone reported learning about canine-assisted trapping (4.56/5) and said the workshops improved their knowledge of vole ecology and the impact of vole damage on crops (4.65 and 4.26/5 respectively). 76 said they learned how other farmers are managing voles (4.26/5) and the panel format at the February 18 workshop appeared somewhat more effective in this regard with a 4.4 rating compared to the 3.83/5 rating for the group discussion on December 1. Based on these strong learning outcomes we estimate that about 50% of the farmers submitting evaluation forms at our events (38 farmers) are intending to change their practices. The venues provided limited opportunities for networking, likely because of their size and the workshop formats, only 62/77 said they could network well with other farmers with an overall rating of 3/5. The quality of networking opportunities was somewhat higher at the smaller December 1 event (3.39/5) than at the February 18 event (2.85/5).
About 81 people attended the 2023-24 workshops with 40 completing evaluations. Everyone said the workshops were useful with an average rating of 4.45/5. Again, all but one participant thought canine-assisted trapping could be useful (4.2/5) with everyone reporting they improved their ability to identify active tunnels and set traps (4.1/5). 38 of 40 respondents said they improved their ability to recognize voles and vole damage (3.75/5), with 37 saying they planned to focus on early-season control to prevent damage (3.84/5). Again, everyone reported learning about canine-assisted trapping (4.4/5) and vole ecology (4.54/5). This year, all 40 respondents said they learned how other farmers are managing voles (4.15/5), and 38 of 40 reported being able to network with other farmers (3.53/5). Ratings for networking were higher than the previous year, perhaps in part due to our focus on smaller events with more time for informal interaction.
We are preparing a vole management manuscript to be published through OSU Extension Communications to complement information in “Meadow Voles and Pocket Gophers: Management in Lawns, Gardens, and Cropland”, PNW Extension Publication 627 (Gunn et al., 2011). We are also preparing guidelines for canine assisted vole detection based on this work that we expect to publish in 2025.
Education and Outreach Outcomes
Our outreach events with large audiences were effective for increasing awareness. Our field days that included demonstrations and accommodated different learning styles appeared to be more effective at increasing knowledge and potential adoption of new practices. In the final year of the project we asked the host farmer what they would like to include in a workshop regardless of our own agenda with this canine assisted detection project. In response we hosted a collaborative workshop with him that included raptor perch demonstrations. That topic was popular in evaluations when we mentioned it in earlier projects, but we wouldn’t have committed to demonstrating raptor perches at a workshop unless we had that conversation with the host farmer.
Networked with other farmers and learned about their vole management strategies
Improved knowledge of vole recognition and ecology
Improved knowledge of vole damage on crops
Improved knowledge of canine assisted trapping and/or using drones to assess crop damage
Improved ability to prevent vole damage early in the year
Learned to identify active tunnels and set snap traps effectively
Learned to install raptor perches or owl boxes
Canine assisted trapping could be helpful
Drones could help me assess damage to grass seed crops
I plan to install raptor perches or owl boxes next year
I plan to begin vole trapping in January through March next year
I plan to work with dogs to help trap voles next year