The range of the brown Arctic has been found to spread across the far northwest of North America, including West Alberta, South British Columbia, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Alaska, and California.

[1] Typically, the brown Arctic butterfly seems to prefer mountainous sparsely vegetated environments that are characterized by short summers.

It has been conjectured that they prefer habitats with places fit for perching, like fallen trees, or areas that shelter from harsh winds, such as gulches.

[3][5] The adult female brown Arctics typically lay their eggs on dead twigs and leaves on the ground.

The larvae becomes darker as it matures, and the final larval instar has a bifurcated head and ranges in color from pink to light brown, with a black dorsal and dorsolateral stripe, short paired protrusions on its posterior, and small erratic setae over its entire body and head.

[3] The larvae feed on grasses, including Festuca idahoensis in Washington, Carex in Colorado, and Danthonia spicata, Oryzopsis pungens, and Phalaris arundinacea in eastern Canada.

[7][3] The adult brown Arctics feed on mud and nectar from a variety of flowers, including pearly everlasting, paintbrush, showy phlox, geranium, and puccoon.

Due to the timeline of two years for the development of the brown Arctic eggs, the flight of the species is biennial in many regions.

[8] A female brown Arctic flies up to higher ridges and mountains, in a phenomenon known as hilltopping, for mating.

Because the ridges provide no other benefit such as food, shelter, avoidance of predators, or thermoregulation, males inhabit these areas specifically for mating, as the elevations are easily located by females.

[10] The darker patch on the dorsal forewing that males of this species possess are scent scales that emit pheremones used in courtship.

[9] Males are highly territorial, giving chase to anything in the air near their perch site, including non-competitors like moths, birds, falling leaves, and even pebbles tossed near them.

They move in a direct path away from the perch site and turn into spiraling upward flights that can last more than 45 seconds with the intruder.

Due to this, the butterflies evolved to camouflage themselves against their background in the Arctic-alpine habitat, including against rock, lichen, and bark.

[2] Females tend to have straighter flight paths with less undulation than males, with a slower wing-beat, only becoming more unpredictable when attempting escape.

Paving of roads, as well as other human development, including lodges, parking lots, and picnic grounds, has also led to deterioration of habitats.