North America's Sonoran Lifezone is an extensive desert ecosystem spanning three countries: Mexico, USA and Canada. It is a little known fact that the northern boundary of the Great Basin Desert (which is one of the deserts within the Sonoron Lifezone) just barely stretches across the USA-Canada border into British Columbia. The locals refer to this area lovingly as the "pocket desert" - the only desert in Canada.
The dryness of this southern interior landscape has a great deal to do with its geography. British Columbia is a wrinkled province resulting from the shifting of the earth’s crust over many millions of years. The valleys show evidence of more recent glacial scouring. The deep Okanagan valley is part of an “interior dry belt” running north to south between the Coastal and Rocky Mountain chains. The Coastal Mountains to the west reduce the humidity of the prevailing ocean air currents, resulting in warm, dry air that drops into the valleys. To add to this dryness, the sandy soils are well drained so that most rainfall quickly seeps away.
This desert is unique. It receives more annual rainfall and cooler average temperatures than deserts to the south. Yet despite these conditions desert habitats prevail and desert organisms persist. The winters are cool and wet, and at this time desert plants are dormant, and many desert animals are hibernating or have migrated south. In the summer, when the temperatures are hot and rain is unpredictable, the desert life must be well adapted and capable of surviving harsh conditions
The region boasts a climate that makes agriculture and human settlement desirable. It is one of Canada’s primary wine and fruit growing regions. With increasing development, less than half of the original habitat remains. Most of this precious ecosystem that still exists is fragmented and degraded. Less than 9% that remains is in good ecological condition. For these reasons, many of the animals associated with the antelope-brush ecosystem are at risk.
