Great Canadian Lagerstatten 1. Early Eocene Lagerstatten of the Okanagan Highlands (British Columbia and Washington State)

The Early Eocene Okanagan Highlands series of lacustrine shale and coal deposits, in far western North America, constitutes a significant group of fossil sites with exceptional preservation of a diverse suite of organisms (Lagerstatten). With contemporaneous basins arrayed across about 1000 kilometres of southern British Columbia and northern Washington, these sites offer a unique opportunity to examine the paleoecology of terrestrial communities spanning a temperate, low-seasonality landscape in a montane setting during a time of generally warm temperatures across the globe. The Okanagan Highlands sites provide an unparalleled comparative framework within which to examine this major turning point in terrestrial community development during the emergence of their broad modern character.