Okanagan Ecoregional Assessment Volume 1 Report
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
VOLUME Okanagan 1 Ecoregional Assessment REPORT October 2006 OKANAGAN ECOREGIONAL ASSESSMENT VOLUME 1 REPORT Okanagan Ecoregional Assessment October 2006 Prepared by Nature Conservancy of Canada The Nature Conservancy of Washington and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife OKANAGAN ECOREGIONAL ASSESSMENT VOLUME 1 REPORT Okanagan Ecoregional Assessment Volume 1 – Report Citation: Pryce, B., P. Iachetti, G. Wilhere, K. Ciruna, J. Floberg, R. Crawford, R. Dye, M. Fairbarns, S. Farone, S. Ford, M. Goering, M. Heiner, G. Kittel, J. Lewis, D. Nicolson, and N. Warner. 2006. Okanagan Ecoregional Assessment, Volume 1 – Report. Prepared by Nature Conservancy of Canada, The Nature Conservancy of Washington, and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife with support from the British Columbia Conservation Data Centre, Washington Department of Natural Resources Natural Heritage Program, and NatureServe. Nature Conservancy of Canada, Victoria, British Columbia. Cover Design: Paul Mazzucca Copyright © 2006 Nature Conservancy of Canada Vancouver, British Columbia Issued by: The Nature Conservancy of Canada Cover Photo Credits: #300 – 1205 Broad Street Methow Valley, Robin Dye; Western screech owl, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada V8W 2A4 A.M. Bezener/One Wild Earth Photography; Great Email: [email protected] basin spadefoot toad, A.M. Bezener/One Wild Earth Photography; Seton Lake, Ian Routley; Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data: Townsends big-eared bat, Harry van Oort; Mormon metalmark, Orville Dyer; East Chopaka, ISBN 1-897386-00-1 Barbara Pryce; Mountain bluebird, Ian Routley; 1. Biological inventory and assessment – Sockeye salmon, Kristy Ciruna; Badgers, Philippe Okanagan. Verkerk; Lynx, Grant Merrill; Mountain lady’s I. Nature Conservancy of Canada. slipper, George Thornton; Long-billed curlew, Ian II. Okanagan Ecoregional Assessment, Volume 1 – Routley; Similkameen River, Barbara Pryce. Report. Includes bibliographical references OKANAGAN ECOREGIONAL ASSESSMENT VOLUME 1 REPORT Acknowledgements A charter for the Okanagan Ecoregional Assessment was signed in October 2003 initiating a process to develop a biodiversity conservation assessment unprecedented in this geographic area. Since that time, many people have supported the project to develop this document and a set of tools to assist in the conservation of this ecoregion’s unique, irreplaceable and vulnerable species, natural communities and ecological systems. This ambitious undertaking would not have been possible without generous funding provided by the W. Garfield Weston Foundation, the Bullitt Foundation, the Icicle Fund, the Donner Canadian Foundation, the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s British Columbia Region and National Offices, The Nature Conservancy’s Washington Chapter, and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Funding was also provided by Parks Canada and through a state wildlife grant from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The British Columbia Conservation Data Centre, the Washington Department of Natural Resources’ Natural Heritage Program, and NatureServe provided significant in-kind support to the Okanagan Ecoregional Assessment. The authors want to thank a number of people who provided us with extraordinary data and expertise which greatly enhanced our assessment. Thank you to Dennis Lloyd of the Ministry of Forests and Range for giving us his biogeoclimatic ecosystem classification update in advance of publication; Orville Dyer of the Ministry of Environment for his work with the Animals Subteam and for providing us with the Okanagan Regional Wildlife Sitings Database; Peter Morrison of the Pacific Biodiversity Institute, Chris Chappell of the Washington Natural Heritage Program, George Wooten of Conservation Northwest and Terry Lillybridge and Rod Clausnitzner of the U.S. Forest Service all made significant contribution to the terrestrial ecosystem classification; Andrew Harcombe, Shane Ford, Carmen Cadrin and other staff at the BC Conservation Data Centre provided not only data, but guidance and expertise as well; Bruno Delesalle, Ryan Holmes and Graham MacGregor of the Grassland Conservation Council of British Columbia for provision of their extensive Priority Grasslands Mapping Initiative database and considerable expertise. We want to thank Brian Wikeem, Mike Ryan and Dave Jones who gave of their time and knowledge. Katherine Glew must be acknowledged for compiling information on lichens in the ecoregion and also Geoff Scudder for his participation on the Animals and Freshwater Subteams as well as his input during the process. Huilin Wang of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife did most of the GIS work for the irreplaceability analysis. Brad Thompson of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife re-analyzed the salmon EDT outputs and provided advice on how to use this information. Margaret Hartzell with the USFS was very helpful in arranging meetings with her staff early on so they could learn about the assessment and collaborate as appropriate and possible. Joe Peone, Rebecca Peone and Sheri Sears from the Colville Confederated Tribes deserve special praise for their expertise, provision of data, access to their staff and guidance as well as for allowing us to use their offices for workshops and meetings. We are indebted to the many experts who participated in a wide variety of ways throughout the process to bring the Okanagan Ecoregional Assessment to completion. We have listed the many people who helped us in Appendix 3. OKANAGAN ECOREGIONAL ASSESSMENT VOLUME 1 REPORT Okanagan Ecoregional Assessment Core Team Leadership for the assessment process was shared between the Nature Conservancy Canada (NCC) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC). The Core Team members and their roles are listed below. Kristy Ciruna, Director of Conservation Programs, NCC, British Columbia Rex Crawford, Vegetation Ecologist - Eastern Washington, Washington Natural Heritage Program, Washington Department of Natural Resources, Washington Robin Dye, Conservation Planner, TNC, Washington Matt Fairbarns, Conservation Botanist, Aruncus Consulting, British Columbia Steve Farone, Northwest Ecoregional Applications Manager, TNC, Washington John Floberg, Manager of Ecoregional Planning, TNC, Washington Shane Ford, Botanist, Conservation Data Centre, Ministry of Environment, British Columbia Mark Goering, GIS Manager, TNC, Washington Mike Heiner, TNC, Washington Pierre Iachetti, Director of Conservation Planning, NCC, British Columbia Gwen Kittel, Vegetation Ecologist, NatureServe, Colorado Jeff Lewis, Wildlife Biologist, Wildlife Program, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), Washington Dave Nicolson, Conservation Planner / GIS Analyst, NCC, British Columbia Barbara Pryce, Core Team Lead, Okanagan Program Manager, NCC, British Columbia Sairah Tyler, Conservation Planning Consultant, NCC, British Columbia Nancy Warner, North Central Washington Program Director, TNC, Washington George Wilhere, Conservation Biologist, Wildlife Program, WDFW, Washington Appendix 2 lists the many people who supported the Core Team through the assessment process OKANAGAN ECOREGIONAL ASSESSMENT VOLUME 1 REPORT Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ..................................................................................................... VII CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................1 1.1 Okanagan Ecoregion Overview .............................................................................2 1.1.1 Biogeographical Setting............................................................................3 1.1.2 Socio-economic Environment ....................................................................4 1.1.3 Land Ownership and Management .............................................................5 1.1.4 Land Use History of the Okanagan Ecoregion............................................7 1.2 Biodiversity Status of the Okanagan Ecoregion .....................................................8 1.3 Ecoregion Boundary ........................................................................................... 11 1.3.1 Terrestrial Ecosections ........................................................................... 13 1.3.2 Freshwater Ecological Drainage Units.................................................... 13 1.3.3 Assessment Units .................................................................................... 14 CHAPTER 2 – THE ASSESSMENT PROCESS..................................................................... 15 2.1 Identifying Conservation Targets ........................................................................ 15 2.2 Assembling Information on Target Locations ...................................................... 15 2.3 Setting Target Goals........................................................................................... 16 2.4 Rating Conservation Suitability of Different Portions of the Ecoregion .......................................................................................................... 17 2.5 Assembling Terrestrial and Freshwater Portfolios................................................ 17 2.6 Creating the Portfolios ....................................................................................... 17 2.7 Expert Review ................................................................................................... 17 2.8 Prioritization of Portfolios.................................................................................