This ecoregion encompasses Johnny Hoe River and lacs Taché and Grandin south of the McVicar Arm of Great Bear Lake. It is marked by cool summers and very cold winters. The mean annual temperature is approximately -7°C. The mean summer temperature is 11°C and the mean winter temperature is -25°C. The mean annual precipitation ranges 225-300 mm. The ecoregion is classified as having a low subarctic ecoclimate. The predominant vegetation consists of open stands of black spruce with an understory of dwarf birch, Labrador tea, lichen, and moss. Drier and warmer sites tend to have more white spruce, paper birch, and some aspen. Wet sites are usually covered with bog-fen vegetation such as dwarf black spruce, Labrador tea, ericaceous shrubs, and mosses. Wetlands cover over 25% of this ecoregion, which also includes the southeastern portion of Great Bear Plain and the northern section of Great Slave Plain. Composed of Cretaceous shale, its surface is generally below 310 m asl and is covered by undulating, peat-covered glacial drift and outwash deposits. Turbic and Organic Cryosols developed on organic and loamy morainal deposits are the dominant soils in the ecoregion. Permafrost is extensive and discontinuous with low to moderate ice content, and is characterized by occasional ice wedges. Characteristic wildlife includes caribou, moose, black bear, wolf, red fox, coyote, beaver, snowshoe hare, muskrat, spruce grouse, raven, and waterfowl. Hunting and trapping are the main land use activities.
This ecoregion is part of the Taiga Plains ecozone.