A panoramic view of the Okanagan Valley with West Kelowna in the foreground and mountains in the background

From the Introduction:
"The Okanagan Ecoregion is a biologically rich area consisting of numerous convergent ecological habitat types. The climate and abundant natural resources of the ecoregion have supported a rapidly expanding human population and agricultural industry; however, intensive land use threatens the region’s biodiversity. Conservation organizations and government agencies are increasing their protection and restoration efforts in the region, but their limited resources make careful coordination of conservation efforts a necessity. To address the growing need for cooperation among these groups, the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), worked with various partners to complete an ecoregional assessment intended so that government agencies, non-governmental conservation organizations, and other decision makers and planners could direct their resources towards the most important places for conserving the ecoregion’s biodiversity.

The purpose of the project was to use the best available information about the ecology of the region to identify lands and waters needed to maintain the biodiversity of the ecoregion. Assessment products that were developed include (1) a terrestrial portfolio and a freshwater portfolio of priority conservation areas (PCAs) that are of exceptional biological value and/or are the most likely places for conservation to succeed based on their current condition or status; (2) maps depicting the relative irreplaceability of all sites across the entire ecoregion; and (3) lower and higher risk portfolios depicting a wide range of options for the conservation of biodiversity. Numerous scientists and other experts from federal, state, provincial and local agencies, academia and conservation organizations contributed to this ecoregional assessment."

See the Assessment [PDF].

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