[3][4] The tree is a large deciduous conifer reaching 30 to 60 meters (98 to 197 feet) tall, with a trunk up to 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) diameter; the bark ranges from orangish to purplish brown.

The cones are green[5] to reddish purple when immature, turning brown and the scales opening flat or reflexed to release the seeds when mature, four to six months after pollination.

[5][6] Western larch grows almost exclusively in the drainage of the Columbia River, from the east of the Cascade Range to the west of the Continental Divide.

[5] It appears on ranges including the Blue Mountains and others in southeast BC and northwest Montana, usually on moist slopes up to 1,800 m (5,900 ft) above sea level.

[8] The seeds are an important substitute winter food for some birds, notably the pine siskin but also the redpoll, and white-winged crossbill.

[4] British Columbia started seeding western larch trees in northern BC in the early 2010s.

The western larch was selected for because of its significant commercial importance and the fear that climate change and parasites such as the mountain pine beetle would considerably diminish its supply.

Instead, they framed the policy as an introduction of a non-exotic species to a similar environment and implemented the program through the province's existing legal and regulatory framework.

[13] However, if some "aggressively warming climate scenarios" actually unfold, foresters will need to let go of any expectations of helping this species maintain a presence south of the Canadian border.