This ecoregion extends eastward from Manitoba to the north-central portion of Ontario. It is marked by cool summers and cold winters. The mean annual temperature is approximately -2°C. The mean summer temperature is 12.5°C and the mean winter temperature is -17°C. The mean annual precipitation ranges from 550 mm in the northeast to 775 mm in the southeast. The ecoregion is classified as having a moist high boreal ecoclimate. Its dominant vegetation is coniferous forest, characterized by a closed canopy of black spruce along with some white spruce, balsam fir, and trembling aspen. Drier sites are typified by open stands of jack pine, trembling aspen, and paper birch with some black and white spruce. Low, closed and open stands of black spruce, Labrador tea, blueberry, bog rosemary, and sphagnum mosses dominate poorly drained, peat-filled depressions. The ecoregion is underlain by crystalline Archean bedrock, which forms broad, sloping uplands and lowlands. Ridged to hummocky bedrock outcrops covered with thin discontinuous acidic sandy till are found in the south, and calcareous, sandy to loamy, cobbly mixed glacial till in the north. Bog veneers, flat bogs, and gently sloping clayey lacustrine deposits are significant inclusions, as are areas of prominent fluvioglacial deposits in the south. More than 50% of the ecoregion is covered by wetlands. Sporadic discontinuous to isolated patches of permafrost with low ice content are found in the northern half of the ecoregion. Bare rock outcrops are common, and Eutric Brunisols with significant inclusions of Dystric Brunisols and Organic Cryosols are the dominant soils. Gray Luvisols are more commonly found in the southwestern section of the region. Characteristic wildlife includes caribou, black bear, wolf, moose, lynx, and snowshoe hare. Birds include the Canada goose, sharp-tailed grouse, and American black duck. Land uses include mining and hunting. Forestry is a minor use in the extreme southern part of the ecoregion. The population of the ecoregion is approximately 3300.
This ecoregion is part of the Boreal Shield ecozone.