The Northern Rockies covers approximately 63,200 square miles (162,746 square km), primarily in Idaho but is also found in western Montana and northeastern Washington, with the northern border in Canada. The Northern Rockies is bordered on the west by the Northern Rockies in Washington, the Columbia Plateau (7E) and Blue Mountains (7F) Ecoregions in Washington; on the south by the Snake River Basin (7H) Ecoregion in Idaho, and to the east by the Northern Rockies, Middle Rockies in Montana. Further to the east are the Northwestern Great Plains and Northwestern Glaciated Plains Ecoregions in Montana.

The Northern Rockies is composed of a series of high, rugged mountain ranges, mostly oriented northwest-southeast, with intermontane valleys between the ranges. The entire ecoregion was glaciated sometime during the early to late Pleistocene Epoch, and today numerous large lakes occupy basins which were formed by that glacial action. The Continental Divide, located at the highest elevations along the northern Rocky Mountains, separates rivers that flow west ward into the Columbia River watershed from those that flow eastward into the Missouri River watershed. The river and streams that drain these mountain ranges provide a water source for many western cities and towns.

The Northern Rockies have a very unpredictable weather, which can change quickly. The seasons in the Northern Rockies ecoregion are also very different from those to the south, either in the Middle Rocky ecoregion and or the Columbia Plateau ecoregion.

During the winter, the nights can be extremely low, even as low as low as -35 degrees. This season has the most amounts of snow, winds, and unexpected storms.

The spring in the Washington Rockies can also have some very unpredictable weather, as it can be wet and cold one day, and then dry and warm the next day.

Summer days usually have sunny mornings, daytime thunderstorms and clear but very short nights.

The fall starts quickly and bring cold, brusque days, with increasing wind but lessening amounts of rain turning into snow.

The ecoregion consists of montane, subalpine, and alpine ecosystems that have distinct floral and faunal elevation zones, with the highest elevations in the southern part of the ecoregion.

Douglas-fir, subalpine fir, Englemann spruce, and ponderosa pine and Pacific indicators such as western red cedar, western hemlock, and grand fir occur in the ecoregion.

The vegetation mosaic is different from that of the both the Idaho Middle Rockies ecoregion (referred to by some as the Idaho Batholith) and the Montana Middle Rockies ecoregion in Montana, which are not dominated by maritime species.

The Northern Rockies ecoregion is mountainous and rugged. Despite its inland position, both climate and vegetation are typically, but not always, marine-influenced, which keeps this ecoregion predominately wet.

The Northern Rockies ecoregion is not as high nor as extensively snow and ice covered as the Canadian Rockies, although alpine characteristics occur at highest elevations and include numerous glacial lakes. Thick volcanic ash deposits blanket large portions of the Northern Rockies Ecoregion and are more widespread than in Middle Rockies Ecoregion.

Miners and trappers explored every mountain and established the first industries in the ecoregion. After railroads made the ecoregion more accessible, hard-rock mines for garnets, gold, lead, molybdenum, silver, and zinc were established. Along with the before mentioned mining, logging of the vast conifer forests still provides its economic foundation. Logging and mining are common and have caused stream water quality problems in the region.

Most of the land within this ecoregion is publicly owned, the largest amount being controlled by the US Forest Service. Today, there is fifteen different national forests and a number of state owned forests. Within the NF are ten designated wilderness areas.

The land along the Kootenay River which flows in British Columbia, Canada and the Kootenai river in Idaho and Montana in the United States has long been inhabited by the Kutenai people. ¹

The river was central to the economic life of the Kutenai people as an important fishing and hunting area. Too, it has been a place of special and spiritual meaning ever since their forefathers arrive here after the crossing of the Bering Land Bridge.

Yes, it was Joktan and his sons who had come across that land bridge and after traversing across the interior of what is now Canada, his remaining sons continue with him southwest towards the the coast near to where the Columbia river goes through the Columbia River Gorge which cuts through the Cascade mountains. And it was along the banks of a very large lake which they called, Ta-Maschilamek Menuppek, or in English, Great Salmon Lake, where Hadoram decided to depart company from his father, Joktan and to make the area along the shores of this lake his homeland.

Later, as the level of the lake began to recede, some of the sons of Hadoram began to follow the water inland. These were Hadoram′s sons who became the Pacific Interior Region Tribes of the Salish, the Sahaptin and the Plateau. And it was from the Plateau, that there came to be a tribe whose homeland became the Kootenai river, a tribe we know today as the Kutenai people.

Since then, the Kutenai have coexisted with the creations in their habitat. Even today, stewardship of the Kootenai waterway requires the utmost respect and protection for all elements of the natural world.

The Kootenai Falls, as the sole barrier to navigation from the headwaters marks a transition zone between the Upper Kutenai tribe and Lower Kutenai tribe.