The mammal's characteristically large, protuberant incisors are well adapted for use in tunnel construction, particularly in the hard clay soils of the Willamette Valley.

While population trends are generally stable, threats to the species' survival include urbanization, habitat conversion for agricultural use and active attempts at eradication with trapping and poisons.

Scientists believe that the gopher's evolutionary history was disrupted when the Missoula Floods washed over the Willamette Valley at the end of the last ice age.

The floods almost completely inundated its geographic range, which may have caused a genetic bottleneck as survivors repopulated the region after the waters receded.

[citation needed] There are six genera of North American pocket gophers: Cratogeomys, Geomys, Orthogeomys, Pappogeomys, Thomomys, and Zygogeomys.

[7] The name Thomomys derives from the Greek σωρός (heap) + μῦς (mouse), probably describing the mounds of excavated soil produced by the burrowing gopher.

[12] There is a specimen of a quadruped in the Hudson's Bay Museum, which Mr David Douglas informs me is the animal known on the banks of the Columbia by the name of the camas-rat, because the bulbous root of the Quamash or Camas plant (Scilla esculenta) forms its favourite food.

The scull is wanting, and the animal, therefore, cannot be with certainty referred to a genus, but the form of its exterior cheek-pouches leads me to think that it may belong to the diplostoma of M Rafinesque-Schmaltz.The confusion around the species' taxonomy and identification amplified when naturalist Spencer Fullerton Baird interpreted Richardson's reports.

[17] The camas pocket gopher's large size led Baird to conclude that the animal's measurements (reported by Richardson) were an artifact of its taxidermy preparation.

[20] The ninth edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (published during the late 19th century) mistakenly reports Thomomys bulbivorus as abundant along the central California coast.

[21] Although Baird and Elliott Coues were involved in early assessments of the genus, according to Allen neither ever saw a specimen of the camas pocket gopher (T.

[25] Based on observations of taxidermy specimens in Europe, they suggested that Townsend's pocket gopher (Geomys (Thomomys) townsendii) belonged to the same species.

[34] Study of the effects of genetic change over time revealed a pattern affected by a cataclysmic event across the species' entire geographic area about 13,000 years ago.

[6] The slender incisors are prominent and distinctive, smooth with yellow surface enamel and white tips due to soil abrasion.

[6] Gophers are burrowing rodents of the family Geomyidae, characterized by fur-lined, external cheek pouches used to gather and transport food.

[2] A 1920 report of a Pleistocene fossil in Fort Rock, Oregon has been questioned, since it is far outside the species' current geographic range; as of 1987, the specimen could not be located for further evaluation.

It has a great deal of courage and fights a man savagely until an opportunity for escape is offered, then it turns and runs as rapidly as possible, attempting to hide from its pursuer.The camas pocket gopher is a mostly solitary herbivore which is active throughout the year and does not hibernate.

[48] The gopher spends most of its time excavating tunnels in search of food,[49] and the hard clay soils of the Willamette Valley pose a challenge.

[10] Although the gopher's front claws are too weak to dig through the clay (particularly during dry seasons), its large incisors and strongly protuberant orientation are well-adapted for this purpose.

[10] The chimney mounds rise vertically 15–25 cm (6–10 in), are open at the top and are thought to ventilate the burrows in accordance with Bernoulli's principle.

[28] The camas pocket gopher may behave aggressively when on the defensive, with mammalogist Vernon Orlando Bailey describing the species as "morose and savage.

[52] Another small rodent endemic to the Willamette Valley, the gray-tailed vole (Microtus canicaudus), also uses camas pocket gopher tunnels.

[10] Two parasitic worms first discovered in the gastrointestinal tract of camas pocket gophers are the nematode Heligmosomoides thomomyos and the cestode Hymenolepis tualatinensis.

[55] Proposed methods for controlling gopher populations in agricultural areas include poisoning dandelions,[50] clover, carrots, sweet potatoes and parsnips.

[55] In an effort to mitigate damage by camas pocket gophers to sensitive habitat, the Oregon Department of Transportation and the Institute for Applied Ecology trap and relocate the animals.

[56] At a site south of Philomath, Oregon, the IAE is working to protect a small but viable population of Kincaid's lupine (Lupinus sulphureus).

[56] This threatened flower is the primary host plant for the endangered Fender's blue butterfly (Icaricia icarioides fenderi), which is endemic to the Willamette Valley.

[56] Citing concerns of urbanization, habitat loss and active attempts at eradication, NatureServe assessed in 2014 the camas pocket gophers' conservation status as vulnerable.

[1] The IUCN notes that the gopher is common in its range; studies indicate that populations can recover rapidly after traps are removed from an area,[1][45] and the species may adapt well to environmental changes.

In areas better suited to the gopher (disturbed habitats and pastoral farmland),[45] it may be considered a pest and subject to eradication by poisoning and trapping.