This vole lives in mountain meadows surrounded by pine-oak forest and changes its plant foods with the seasons.
Its back is grizzled cinnamon-buff to darker cinnamon-brown, its sides are lighter, and its underside ranges from whitish to gray or cinnamon. The short tail is slightly darker above than below.
It lives on the ground and is more active by day than many other voles, though it also moves in the early morning and evening. In mountain meadows it eats green grasses and forbs in summer, then roots, bulbs, and bark in winter.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.