This area contains the remote city of Alice Springs while the grasslands are home to a number of Indigenous Australian communities or are used for cattle grazing.

This ecoregion includes the Central Australian Mountain Ranges Centres of Plant Diversity.

The habitats consists of thick, tough spinifex grassland with some wooded areas of western myall and desert oak (Acacia coriacea).

The region and the MacDonnell Ranges in particular are home to a number of specialised endemic plant species including the cabbage palms of Palm Valley in Finke Gorge National Park.

Overgrazing by cattle and introduced animals including horses, donkeys and rabbits are a threat to habitats.