Roadside Nature Tours through the Okanagan: A Guide to British Columbia's Wine Country
224
Roadside Nature Tours through the Okanagan: A Guide to British Columbia's Wine Country
224eBook
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Overview
Roadside Nature Tours through the Okanagan opens with an introduction to the region’s biodiversity, climate, geology, and human history, setting the stage for the route descriptions that follow. Richard Cannings then takes us on twenty-one tours through the valley, from the arid benchlands of Osoyoos to the snowy forests east of Vernon. The routes vary from main highways to quiet roads, and along each one we’re introduced to the animals, plants, and bedrock that create this national treasure. Each route also has a focal topic, ranging from owls to salmon and rattlesnakes to rock rabbits.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781926812243 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Greystone Books |
| Publication date: | 01/06/2012 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 224 |
| File size: | 2 MB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
From the Introduction
When I was young, my home town of Penticton used to advertise itself as the "City of Peaches and Beaches", in fact the concession stand in the shape of a giant peach is still there on the shores of Okanagan Lake. In those days visitors came to the Okanagan for just that combination--a week or two with the family to lie on glorious natural sand under the hot sun followed by a quick stop at the fruit stands on the way home to Vancouver or Calgary to stock up on cherries, apricots peaches and apples.
Although I grew up on an apple orchard and spent perhaps too much of my boyhood summer days on the sunny lakeshore, I always knew the Okanagan was much more than peaches and beaches. Our family often hosted keen birders and young biologists who came to enjoy the valley's other riches-an incredible diversity of plants and animals, many of which were difficult to find anywhere else in Canada. I quickly developed a strong sense of pride about how special this place was and have carried that feeling ever since.
After living in the urban excitement of Vancouver for more than 20 years, that deep love for the Okanagan drew me back to it in 1995. Things had changed of course-there were twice as many people living in Penticton and five times as many in Kelowna. But I also got the feeling that more local residents shared my feelings about the natural Okanagan, and more tourists were coming just to see spring wildflowers and listen to bird song, to climb the rugged cliffs along Skaha Lake, and to cycle along the historic and spectacular Kettle Valley Railroad trail. Shortly after I settled in I got a phone call from the local Chamber of Commerce suggesting that we form a group to organize an annual nature festival, something really unthinkable when I was a child.
I also noticed that the agriculture industry was changing rapidly. Apple, pear and apricot orchards were being converted to vineyards, driven by the discovery that the local soils and climate were ideal for growing high quality grapes for fine wines. When I was a teenager, Okanagan wines were noted only for their low prices and matching quality, but my new neighbours in Naramata were producing wines that were winning awards around the world. More and more people were coming to the valley specifically for its wines; I even led a couple of weekend tours for visitors from Vancouver that featured a "wine and wildlife" theme to take advantage of this change in focus for tourism.
In the 12 years since I moved back to the Okanagan, this shift in tourism has continued to the point where nature- and wine-loving visitors make up a significant part of the annual visiting population, although sun-lovers still crowd the beaches in July and August. Now, to paraphrase James Thurber, "I don't know much about wine, but I know what I like." I do however, know a bit about natural history, and I hope that this book will allow visitors that come for wine or wildlife-or even some hot sunshine-to explore some of the Okanagan's roads with fresh eyes for its natural treasury and come away with a richer sense of what makes this Valley one of the best places on earth.
The Natural Okanagan
Although the Okanagan's reputation for fine weather may be enough to bring visitors from the rain-soaked coast of British Columbia or blizzard-bound Alberta, there is one natural feature of the Valley that stands out as an obvious attraction-its diversity. Few places in Canada-or even North America-can boast its combinations of desert sands and deep lakes, towering rock cliffs and rich benchlands, cold mountain forests and hot grasslands. Freezing winds carve back the needles on stunted firs at treeline while only a few kilometres away a rattlesnake slides around yellow cactus flowers, hunting for pocket mice. Cattail marshes line river oxbows only a few metres from sagebrush that send roots deep into dry soils in a constant quest for water.
This wide array of habitats is not only refreshing for the hiker or biker, but a real boon to wildlife. The presence of permanent water in such an arid landscape greatly boosts the numbers and varieties of animals able to live in the area. And the statistics are impressive. There are about 200 species of birds that nest in the Okanagan Valley, more than anywhere else in Canada. In fact, there are few places in North America that could equal such a list in such a small area, and none that could significantly better it. No wonder birders come from all over the continent to the Okanagan to add to their lifelists. Arctic birds on the mountaintops, boreal forest birds in the spruce, coastal forest birds in the cedars, southwestern desert birds in the sagebrush; I've seen up to 174 different species of birds in the Valley on a single day in the nesting season.
And it's not just birds, of course. There are 14 species of bats in the Okanagan, more than anywhere in Canada, including the spectacular spotted bat that looks like a little flying skunk with oversize pink ears. The Valley is also the British Columbia hot spot for reptiles and amphibians, featuring spadefoot toads, tiger salamanders, rubber boas, and, at least formerly, pygmy short-horned lizards. One little pond near Penticton is home to almost half the dragonfly species of British Columbia. Most other invertebrate species are not well surveyed, but the presence of northern scorpions, Jerusalem crickets and black widow spiders certainly adds spice to a prowl through the grasslands.
Another quality of the natural environment draws visitors to the Okanagan-rarity. Many of these plants and animals are found nowhere else in Canada, or at least are very difficult to find elsewhere. The Canyon Wren is found from southern Mexico to the rocky cliffs just south of Kelowna; the Sage Thrasher from Arizona to the White Lake basin west of Okanagan Falls, the Lyall's Mariposa Lily grows only on the east slope of the Cascades from central Washington north to Osoyoos, and the list goes on.
Most of these plants and animals that are unique to the Okanagan, at least in a Canadian setting, are associated with habitats at low elevations-the dry grasslands on the valley benches and moist woodlands and marshes along the lakes and streams. These habitats in turn have been the prime habitat settled and irrevocably altered by human settlement in the past century. The Okanagan has the biggest concentration of species at risk in the country, and almost all of these species are endangered because of that combination of rarity in Canada and habitat loss. Some estimates suggest that 80 percent of riparian habitats-the birch woodlands along the old channels of the Okanagan River and the marshes at the head of each lake-and 50 to 70 percent of grasslands have been lost to agriculture and urban development.
Climate
The Okanagan Valley has a reputation as being a hot, dry place-the sandy benchland of the Osoyoos area is often called "Canada's Pocket Desert". The Valley does indeed lie in the rainshadow of the Cascade and Coast mountains, so that moist Pacific air is wrung dry as it rises over these ranges on its eastward track in from the ocean. This maritime flow is one of three airstreams that dominate the local climate; the other two are the warm continental flow from the Great Basin to the south and the frigid air that creeps down from the Arctic in winter.
One of the most important factors that affects the Okanagan climate is the presence of large lakes through most of the valley. These lakes significantly moderate the climate throughout the year, warming the Valley in winter and cooling it in summer.
The south Okanagan receives about 30 centimetres of precipitation per year. This is certainly drier than most parts of the province but not the driest area-sites such as Ashcroft and Keremeos, tucked into deep valleys into the eastern flank of the Cascade and Coast ranges often get less than 25 centimetres. Rainfall increases gradually as you go northward in the valley, then rather sharply near the north end; Kelowna gets 31.5 centimetres and Armstrong 44.8 centimetres of precipitation each year.
Spring comes early to the Okanagan in comparison with other inland areas in western Canada. As the days lengthen in February, the track of the Arctic airstream shifts eastward, allowing warm Pacific air to flood in from the coast. The snow quickly melts in the valley bottom and the first spring flowers-sagebrush buttercups and yellowbells-brighten the golden grasslands. By the end of February the first spring migrant birds have returned from the south-Tree and Violet-green Swallow take in the early midge hatches over the river and Western Meadowlarks are singing again. By late March the apricots are blooming white throughout the southern valley, followed in April by the pink peach, white cherry, creamy pear and white-and-pink apple blossoms. Wild currants are blooming too, and the first hummingbirds come back to take advantage of the new nectar.
The spring air warms rapidly and on hot days in late May you can often see children swimming in the lakes. Most of the birds have returned by the end of May, the pink bitterroot blossoms appear as if by magic out of the hot dry soil and cottonwood fluff drifts through the air like a summer snowstorm. Although precipitation is relatively even throughout the year in the Okanagan, June is the wettest month. The warm rains melt the deep snowpack in the mountains and all the creeks swell, sending frigid, silty water into the lakes. Some time in early July a strong high pressure ridge builds to the west, deflecting the moist Pacific airstream north into the Yukon, and the dry and hot days of a classic Okanagan summer settle in, fueled in part by oven-like air flowing north out of the Great Basin Desert. Young birds are leaving their nests and the laneways of the Valley fill with scuttling groups of tiny quail.
The Pacific airstream re-establishes itself in late August, bringing fall showers back to the Okanagan. Songbirds such as warblers and flycatchers stream south, heading for winter quarters in Central America. Shortening days and a lower sun bring lower temperatures, and by early October the mean temperature on the mountaintops falls below freezing. The larches on the eastern slopes of the Valley turn brilliant gold and the cottonwoods along the creeks soon follow with a similar show of colour. The frost line drops steadily; the first snow flurries bring temporary washes of white to the valley bottom in November. As small lakes in northern and central Canada freeze, rafts of coots, ducks and other waterfowl appear on the lakes of the Okanagan.
The real cold is yet to come, however. Some time in December or early January, the first stream of Arctic air slips through passes in the Rockies and slides into southern British Columbia. Overnight lows drop below -10 C and vineyards spring into action to harvest the frozen grapes for icewine. Snowfalls now blanket the ground for weeks on end. Snow depths in the south Okanagan rarely exceed 15 centimetres, but are regularly over 30 centimetres in Kelowna and even deeper in Vernon. Armstrong receives a total of 135 centimetres of snow each year, compared to only 60 centimetres in the southern parts of the valley. Snowfall also increases with elevation, of course, some subalpine areas can get over 500 centimetres of snow, much to the delight of local skiers.
Table of Contents
Introduction
The Natural Okanagan
Climate
Ecosystems
The building of the Okanagan Valley
Human History
Cattle, Cherries and Chardonnay
Routes
Anarchist Mountain
Richter Pass
McKinney Road
White Lake
Black Sage Road
Vaseux Lake
Green Lake Road
Skaha Lake Eastside Road
Apex Mountain
Naramata
Penticton to Peachland
Osprey Lake
Westbank
Westside Road
Glenmore and Beaver Lake Road
Kettle Valley
Vernon Commonage
Silver Star
Mabel Lake
Swan and Otter Lakes