This ecoregion is located almost entirely within the western and central portions of the US state of Wyoming, but does extend minimally into southeastern Idaho, south-central Montana, north-central Utah and northwestern Colorado.

It is located within multiple high altitude intermontane basins largely surrounded by various subranges of the Rocky Mountains.

These basins are in the rain shadow of the North American Cordillera and as such have an arid to semi-arid climate with long, very cold winters and short, hot summers.

Areas with less sagebrush cover often support grassland or semidesert species, such as long-billed curlew (Numenius americanus), western meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta), lark sparrow (Chondestes grammacus), vesper sparrow (Pooecetes gramineus), thick-billed longspur (Rhynchophanes mccownii), mountain plover (Charadrius montanus), or loggerhead shrike (Lanius ludovicianus).

However, heavy livestock grazing, fire suppression and the introduction of non-native plants (especially grasses) have resulted in some areas being significantly altered.