Habitat is mostly the vicinity of nonflowing bodies of water and associated wetlands and meadows; sometimes these frogs cross up to a few hundred meters of upland habitat between wetlands, and they may overwinter in upland sites adjacent to wetlands; periods of inactivity may be spent in water, among thick wetland vegetation, under objects on the ground, or in rodent burrows (Hammerson 1999). Breeding sites include marshes, rain pools, glacial kettle ponds, snow-melt pools, bog ponds, marshy edges of lakes and reservoirs, flooded areas, and other bodies of water with little or no current; breeding pools may be temporary or permanent, and they usually contain aquatic or wetland plants or submerged terrestrial vegetation (Hammerson 1999). It is unclear as to whether or not it is tolerant of habitat disturbance.

The range of this species includes large areas of Canada and the western and north-central United States from the Great Bear Lake in Canada's Northwest Territories to northern Ontario, southward to Arizona, New Mexico, northern Oklahoma, Missouri (possibly northern Arkansas), and Illinois; disjunctly also in southern Ontario, southern Quebec, northern New York, and northwestern Vermont (Conant and Collins 1991, Stebbins 2003, Lemmon et al. 2007). It occurs at elevations above 3,670 m asl in Colorado and Utah (Hammerson 1999, Stebbins 2003).

Conservation Actions In-Place
This species is present in many protected areas throughout its range.