The Okanagan Valley is home to some the greatest concentrations of species diversity and species at risk in Canada. Situated in a north/south valley in central southern British Columbia, the Okanagan contains a number of bio-regions including desert, grassland, pine forest, and cedar forest nestled around the shores of an immense freshwater lake system. The human population consists of around 300,000 people, and ecological issues are acute. It is a laboratory of ecological indicators, a microcosm of problems facing Canada and many other nations: shifting demographics, rampant development, water depletion and pollution, climate change, biodiversity loss, forest disease, and stresses on agriculture and food supply.