This ecoregion extends from the south end of Lake Winnipeg to the east side of Rainy Lake on the Canada-United States border. It is more closely identified with the warmer, more humid southeastern mixed forest region, than with the colder, drier boreal regions to the north. It is marked by warm summers and cold winters. The mean annual temperature is approximately 1.5°C. The mean summer temperature is 15°C and the mean winter temperature is -13°C. The mean annual precipitation ranges from 500 mm in the western portion, to 700 mm in the east. Characteristic vegetation includes a succession from trembling aspen, paper birch, and jack pine to white spruce, black spruce, and balsam fir. Warmer portions of the ecoregion support red and eastern white pine. Cooler and wetter sites support black spruce and tamarack. This is the western limit in Canada for red and eastern white pine. The ecoregion is underlain by massive, crystalline, acidic, Archean bedrock, forming hummocky, broadly sloping uplands and lowlands. Lacustrine deposits forming level to undulating clay plains occur in lowlands. The ecoregion is also interspersed with areas of fluvioglacial outwash deposits. Bare rock outcrops are common, and Dystric Brunisols are the dominant soil on sandy morainal veneers and blankets. Significant inclusions are Mesisolic and Fibrisolic Organic soils and Gray Luvisolic soils on exposed clay deposits. The extent of wetlands is variable, being most extensive in the vicinity of Lake of the Woods. Treed bowl bogs and peat margin swamps are the predominant wetland forms. Forestry, recreation, and hunting are the major land uses in this region. Characteristic wildlife includes moose, black bear, wolf, lynx, snowshoe hare, and woodchuck. Bird species include ruffed grouse, hooded merganser, pileated woodpecker, bald eagle, turkey vulture, herring gull, and waterfowl. Forestry, recreation, and hunting are the major land uses in this region. Major communities include Kenora and Dryden. The population of the ecoregion is approximately 52 700.
This ecoregion is part of the Boreal Shield ecozone.