The South Okanagan shrub-steppe ecosystem is a habitat for 30% of the Red-listed and 46% of the Blue-listed vertebrates in British Columbia, with several listed as threatened or endangered.

[2][4][5] According to the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), this region lies within the northern reach of the Columbia Plateau ecoregion (10.1.2).

[7][8] The Okanagan shrub-steppe is dominated by antelope brush and common rabbitbrush interspersed with a variety of flowering plant species.

[9] As of 2009, 23 species were Red-listed (threatened or extirpated) in the South Okanagan shrub-steppe ecosystem, including:[10][11] Over the early 21st century, many fruit-tree orchards were converted to irrigated vineyards.

The region was the subject of a 1999 National Film Board of Canada documentary Pocket Desert – Confessions of a Snake Killer.