Grasslands Landscape

• large, deep, steep-sided valleys of Thompson, North Thompson, Bonaparte and Fraser Rivers
• grasslands are extensive in valley bottoms and lower slopes
• rocky outcrops, talus slopes and gullies are an important feature of these grasslands

Grassland landscape and ancient bed of Glacial Lake Deadman east of Savona. B. Wikeem

What’s special about these grasslands?

• 30 % in hot, dry Lower Grasslands with widely spaced plants and cryptogamic crust
• cooler and moister Middle Grasslands have more plant cover with few big sagebrush
• rough fescue dominates many communities in the moister Upper Grasslands and parklands
• large area around Ashcroft as dry as grasslands in the South Okanagan
• valley floor to sub-alpine elevations over only 15 kilometres at Cornwall Hill.

Upper (foreground) and Middle (background) Grasslands in Lac du Bois Grasslands Protected Area. B. Needham.

How are they doing?

• Heavy grazing in some areas since the 1850s
• better range management introduced in the 1970s
• fencing of pastures and rotation grazing is allowing native species to recover
• large areas converted to hayfields or crops, extensive areas lost to urban development
• some critical areas protected in parks and other conservation areas.

A Species At Risk in Thompson-Pavilion:  

Gopher Snake (Pituophis catenifer deserticola)

Blue-listed in BC.

• Back and sides black or brown blotches in rows similar to the Western rattlesnake
• small head with dark stripe distinguishes it from the rattlesnake’s large triangular head 
• not venomous and no rattle at the end of its tail, can take a defensive stance
• prefers shrub grasslands beside ponds, northern limit the same as big sagebrush
• hibernates deep in the rocks of south-facing slopes
• threats from development, recreational activity, destruction of den sites, mistaken killing.

Gopher Snake. A. Bezener

Click on the links below for more information:

Don’t understand? CHECK the GLOSSARY  

Want to Dig Deeper into the Thompson-Pavilion grasslands?