This ecoregion covers two separate areas: the rolling foothills of the Rocky Mountains of Alberta and further west a smaller area of the hills and valleys of central British Columbia.

The forests are a mixture dominated by lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta), jack pine (Pinus banksiana), trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides), black spruce (Picea mariana), and white spruce (Picea glauca).

Other trees include balsam poplar (populus balsamifera), paper birch (Betula papyrifera), balsam fir (Abies balsamifera) and tamarck (Larix laricina).

Birds of the area include sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis), ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus), spruce grouse (Falcipennis canadensis) and large numbers of waterbirds and New World warblers (Parulidae).

These forests have been extensively altered by human activity, especially clearance for planting.