Bunchgrass zone

The bunchgrass zone (BG zone) covers less than one percent of the total area of British Columbia. In spite of its small size, the zone supports a rich diversity of ecosystems and a wide variety of plants and wildlife, including many rare and endangered species.

Tree species descriptions

The dry and relatively mild low-elevation climate of the BG zone, together with an abundance of productive agricultural land, makes this one of the most populated and most developed areas in the British Columbia interior.

The BG zone consists mostly of narrow fingers of land centred on the major river valleys of the Okanagan, Thompson, and Fraser river basins. These include the Okanagan Valley from Summerland south to the United States border, the Thompson River Valley from Kamloops to Spences Bridge, the Nicola River Valley and the Fraser and Chilcotin river valleys south of Riske Creek to north of Lillooet. In these locations, the zone occurs from the valley bottom up to elevations of approximately 900 metres on the valley slopes. 

Subzone/variants in the BG zone

Tree species descriptions:

• xh subzone, variant 3 (PDF, 180KB)
• xw subzone, variant 2 (PDF, 194KB)