The population of this animal has been reduced in some parts of its range because of clearcutting of forests. As also seen in other high-elevation populations, climate change and the resulting melting of ice sheets in habitats previously inhabited by western heather vole have caused the population and differentiation of populations within the species to decrease. Some populations have also migrated north due to global warming, as during the Last Glacian Maxiumum, western heather voles have populations much farther south than they are currently, some as far south as Tennessee and Arkansas.
