[3][4] This ecoregion is located in the Rocky Mountain regions of southeastern British Columbia, southwestern Alberta, northwestern Montana, northern Idaho, and northeastern Washington.

Valleys experience warm, wet summers and mildly cold, snowy winters, while subalpine zones experience cool, wet summers with the possibility of frosts, and very cold, snowy winters.

Lower elevation forests are dominated by Western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla), Western red cedar (Thuja plicata) and Subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa), with medium-smaller and mixed populations of Lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta), Rocky mountain douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var.

[2] Mammals of the North Central Rockies forests include the gray wolf (Canis lupus), grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horriblus), wolverine (Gulo gulo), woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou), black bear (Ursus americanus cinnamomum), mountain goat (Oreamnos americanus), mule deer (Odocoileus hemonius), white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), Rocky Mountain elk ( Cervus canadensis nelson), moose (Alces alces), coyote (Canis latrans), cougar (Puma concolor), bobcat (Lynx rufus), fisher (Martes pennanti), red fox (Vulpes vulpes), groundhog (Marmota monax) and American marten (Martes americana).

The main threats to this ecoregion's integrity are resource extraction and development, increasing human activity, logging, mining, livestock grazing and the introduction of exotic species.