The landscape consists of wide, flat plains and lowlands broken by low mountains and plateaus, such as the Caribou Mountains. Almost half of the area is covered in wetlands and bogs such as Zama Lake in Alberta. The ecoregion is in the zone of discontinuous permafrost and has a subarctic climate, with summer temperatures averaging around , and winter temperatures averaging from to . Annual average temperatures are between and . Precipitation is moderately low, averaging between and .