By Times Chronicle Staff
The Osoyoos Desert Centre (ODC) is set to open for the season next Saturday April 26, 10 am to 2 pm. The centre is inviting visitors to get outdoors and explore the extraordinary beauty of the rare and at-risk antelope-brush grassland unique to the South Okanagan.
“We’re thrilled to offer people the opportunity to connect with this remarkable natural environment,” says Jayme Friedt, Executive Director. “At first glance, our desert habitat might seem like just a dry dormant place but look a little closer and you’ll discover an incredible amount of life happening.”
Friedt notes that visitors are frequently amazed to learn about the variety of species that thrive here in the local environment, including amphibians like the Great Basin Spadefoot, Behr’s Hairstreak butterflies, Nuttall’s Cottontail rabbits and Western Bluebirds.
Antelope Brush with a bee. Osoyoos Desert Centre photo
And supporting these species is an equally unique plant life which includes two particularly impressive plants – antelope-brush and the prickly pear cactus which is Canada’s only native cactus.
Visitors to ODC can tour its 1.5 km accessible boardwalk trail that loops through the habitat, have a look at the Centre’s native plant garden to learn about the local flora adapted to our desert environment and interact with hands-on displays inside the interpretive building.
An outdoor shaded picnic area at the centre offers visitors a spot to sit and enjoy a snack or a bagged lunch and soak in the views.
Guided tour at the Desert Centre. Osoyoos Desert Centre photo
“This spring we’ve been working on upgrading our parking area and pathways to improve accessibility at ODC. We are pleased to offer two new accessible parking stalls and improved parking area access to our interpretive building. In addition, our native plant garden pathway has been resurfaced with crushed gravel making it now completely accessible,” continues Friedt.
Later this season Osoyoos Desert Centre plans to offer various workshops starting with a Mason Bee house building workshop called Buzzing for Bees taking place Sunday May 18. The annual Nature Talks line-up will be announced in June and talks take place every weekend throughout July and August.
Osoyoos Desert Centre is located at 14580 – 146 Avenue, three km north of Osoyoos. Spring hours are Wednesday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Starting May 10 the hours change to daily 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $30 for families, $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and youth (ages 6-17) and children 5 and under are free. For more information call 250-495-2470, visit desert.org or email [email protected].
