The southern Rocky Mountain Trench in British Columbia lies between the Rocky Mountains in the east and the Purcell Mountains to the west. It extends from the town of Golden in the north to the US border in the south.

The dry low-elevation open forests and grasslands of the Trench, occupying about 250,000 hectares of Crown land, are defined by BC's Biodiversity Guidebook as Natural Disturbance Type 4 (NDT4), which is characterized by frequent stand-maintaining fires. These fire-maintained ecosystems require frequent low-intensity fire. Without it, grasslands become forest-like and open forests become dense thickets of immature trees.

The current ecosystem restoration program in the Trench intends to restore 135,000 hectares of public land to Open Range and Open Forest standard by 2030. See A Blueprint for Action on the Publications page for more information on the ecosystem restoration program.