The ecological systems in the western part of the region are those of the coastal mountains while to the east we have Rocky Mountain habitats. As large as it is, The Okanogan as described here has less that fifty thousand people. Large areas are Federal and State land with large tracts of National Forest, Bureau of Land Management holdings and land belonging to the Washington State Department of Natural Resources. The entire south portion of the region is the Colville Indian Reservation which is well over a million acres. Resources and products vary as greatly as the landscape.
Timber comes from the forests and there are still gold-mines.
Ranching is a major industry in the lower mountains and the sagebrush desert. There are large sheep ranches as well as cattle.