The Arctic foothills tundra is a transitional belt of rounded hills and plateaus spanning northwestern Alaska, northern Yukon, and the northwestern Northwest Territories, lying between the Arctic Coastal Tundra to the north and the Brooks-British Range Tundra to the south. Its better-drained terrain—with fewer thaw lakes than the saturated coast—supports moist tussock sedges, dwarf shrubs, and scrub, with open white spruce stands mixed with balsam poplar and willow along the Noatak River Valley. The climate is Arctic, with continuous, thick permafrost and an active layer averaging about 1 m, while much of the landscape escaped glaciation during the Pleistocene. The region remains roughly 99% intact, though the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, Dalton Highway, and coal and mineral mining pose growing threats; the gyrfalcon is its flagship species.

At a glance

About the tundra biome

Treeless polar and high-mountain landscapes of low shrubs, sedges, mosses, and lichens, where cold and a short growing season cap plant height. Soils are frequently frozen as permafrost, and these systems recover only slowly from disturbance.

Catalog plants suited to this ecoregion

Computed from each plant's stated USDA zone range against this ecoregion's USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023 (1991-2020 climatology) via ArcGIS FeatureServer published current zone range, with the CHELSA mid-century warming delta applied for the projection. Plants whose stated range falls outside both the current and projected zone end up dropped; the rest land in one of the three buckets below.

Collections for this ecoregion

Curated multi-plant collections whose members all fit this ecoregion's zone range — no won't-grow members smuggled in. Overall fit class shown per collection is the weakest link across its members.

Related ecoregions