Water Stewardship Information Sources
| ID | 1305 |
|---|---|
| Citation | Nature Conservancy of Canada. 2006. Okanagan Ecoregional Assessment. Nature Conservancy of Canada. |
| Organization | Nature Conservancy of Canada. |
| URL | http://www.natureconservancy.ca/en/what-we-do/resource-centre/conservation-blueprints/#okanagan |
| Abstract/Description or Keywords | Ecoregional assessments provide a regional scale, biodiversity-based context for implementing conservation efforts. The intent of the assessments is to create a shared vision for agencies and other organizations at the provincial or state, regional, and local levels to form partnerships and ensure efficient allocation of conservation resources. The assessments identify a portfolio of sites for conservation action with a goal of protecting representative biodiversity and ecologically significant populations. These assessments are the result of rigorous scientific analyses, which incorporate expert review, and are the most comprehensive and current efforts to set conservation priorities at an ecoregional scale. Biodiversity conservation in an ecoregion will attain its fullest potential if all conservation organizations coordinate their strategies to protect and restore biodiversity according to the priorities identified in this process. The Okanagan Ecoregional Assessment resulted in the selection of 430 conservation targets, including 220 terrestrial species targets, 48 freshwater species targets, 66 rare plant community types and 96 system targets. These system targets are the major ecological systems that make up the terrestrial and freshwater environments. Conservation goals were set for each target. They defined the abundance and spatial distribution needed to adequately conserve each target in an ecoregion and provided an estimate of how much effort will be needed to sustain the targets well into the future. A suitability index was used to determine the areas of the ecoregion that had the highest likelihood of successful conservation. The suitability index incorporated five biological and non-biological factors: converted land (agriculture, urban, mining); level of protection (GAP status); urban proximity; road density; and fire condition. The conservation goals and the suitability index were used to develop a portfolio of priority conservation areas (PCAs) that represent characteristic landscape settings which support all of the ecoregion's biodiversity. The terrestrial portfolio (Map 22) includes 137 PCAs with an area of 3,093,000 ha (7,642,969 ac), which represents 32% of the total area of the ecoregion. The freshwater portfolio, including 135 PCAs, (Map 24) extends beyond the ecoregion boundary to capture whole watersheds. The portion of the portfolio falling within the ecoregion boundary, 113 PCAs, totals 3,301,359 ha (8,157,835 ac) and represents 34% of the ecoregion. The area of overlap between the terrestrial and freshwater portfolios represents 14% of the ecoregion (Map 26). These portfolios include the last places where many of the ecoregion's most imperiled species occur, and the last, large expanses of relatively intact natural habitat. The sites included in these portfolios are regarded as having the highest likelihood of successful conservation according to the suitability factors used in the assessment. While integration of the Okanagan's terrestrial and freshwater portfolios was not achieved, future iterations of this assessment will strive to produce a fully integrated portfolio. aquatic ecology, aquatic habitat |
| Information Type | report |
| Regional Watershed | Okanagan, Similkameen |
| Sub-watershed if known | |
| Aquifer # | |
| Comments | primarily focussed on terrestrial species but some data for aquatic species and ecosystems |
| Project status | complete |
| Contact Name | Nature Conservance of Canada, BC Head Office |
| Contact Email | [email protected] |