'It's not endless': Osoyoos' rare semi-arid desert environment is home to countless at-risk species

Conserving the rare desert

If it's hot and dry just north of the U.S. border; it's a desert after all.

In Osoyoos, Canada’s semi arid desert, you'll find countless at-risk and unique species, including the extremely rare antelope brush. The plant survives through its extremely long root system, where it absorbs water in deep layers of soil.

“If you feel the leaves of this plant […] you're going to feel a bit of a waxy coat on them, and that waxy coat really helps protect the leaves from getting any moisture sucked out of them from the sun,” said Vriti Bash, Osoyoos Desert Centre guide.

“There's estimated to be less than 30 per cent of the antelope brush remaining in a healthy state in the Okanagan, so I think for people in Osoyoos it's important to understand that although this place is beautiful, it's not endless,” said Ripley Shubert, ODC guide.

The small border town is also home to the iconic Okanagan sage bush and various cacti, including the brittle prickly pear.

The Osoyoos shrub–steppe is just four millilitres of rain over being classified a full desert. Species that live in it have a wide range of adaptations, like the western rattlesnake, the spadefoot toad, and — special to the South Okanagan — the pale pallid bat.

“The drought resistance is really cool for a lot of this stuff,” Shubert said. “So, the way they've evolved their leaves, their coloration and kind of their life cycles to deal with the incredibly hot and dry summers here is amazing, and just about every plant has to do it in some way or another, so there's a ton of varied strategies that you get to look at.”

“Not only does it get really hot here in the summer, it also gets quite cold in the winter, and so a lot of the species that live here need to have quite interesting adaptations in order to survive both of those conditions,” said Anika Wulff, ODC guide.

At the Osoyoos Desert Centre, much of their work is about educating the public on this endangered ecosystem. ODC executive director Jayme Friedt said that involves inspiring curiosity so people are interested in preserving it.

According to the not-for-profit organization, less than nine per cent of the antelope-brush ecosystem is undisturbed today. And of 5,000 hectares, only a small portion of that is protected.

Additionally, about 25 per cent of endangered vertebrates in B.C. call the South Okanagan home.

Currently, the ODC is recording data on bluebird nest boxes, which will then be used in national databases. The western bluebird and the mountain bluebird are just a couple of the species they are monitoring.

“We do a lot of invasive species management here, so we will do a lot of weeding,” Friedt said. “We have a bio agent, a weevil, that works on the Dalmatian toadflax here to help control the spread of Dalmatian toadflax.”

The centre also works on removing other invasive species like knapweed, houndstongue, Russian thistle and puncturevine.

However, staff at the ODC remind visitors that it's biodiversity that makes all of the various species living in the South Okanagan desert possible.

Photo: Sarah Crookall