Southern Interior

The whole Southern Interior is in the rainshadow of the Coast Mountains in BC and the Cascade Mountains in Washington. It is warm and dry in the summer and can get very cold in the winter, but only the mountains and highlands get a lot of snow.

The landscape has dry grasslands, forests, deep river valleys and large lakes. Ponderosa pine and Douglas fir forests cover much of the area, providing homes for several rare types of bats and other mammals. In other parts, rocky hills, cliffs and even a desert are home to species only found in this ecoprovince.

The major cities are Kamloops, Vernon, Kelowna and Penticton.

Animals

	American Kestrel		California Bighorn Sheep
	California Quail		Coyote
	Great Basin Spadefoot Toad		Nuttall's Cottontail
	Red Tailed Hawk		Northern Saw-whet Owl
	Hermit Thrush		Spotted Bat
	White-tailed Ptarmigan

Plants

	Balsamroot		Big Sagebrush
	Douglas Fir		Kinnikinnick
	Pinegrass		Prairie Lupine
	Ponderosa Pine		Prickly Pear Cactus
	Saskatoon		Snowberry
	Trembling Aspen

Envirogroups