Desert planet with forests at the poles
I'm thinking up a Mars or Venus type planet where the poles (or one pole) has a forest growing out of it due to a device that is used to make the planet more habitable by creating a oxygen friendly atmosphere.
However the atmosphere has not spread throughout the planet so it has mostly aggregated at the pole due to the device being there. Possibly a river could also be flowing out of the pole. The poles are full of icecaps containing water similar to Mars, and the melting of the ice caps has caused the river to flow out. Along the riverside is where the human colonies would be staying.
How feasible is this, and if not, does it tax suspension of disbelief too much?
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Earth-like Desert planets are entirely feasible. In fact, models have suggested that such a planet could enjoy a habitable zone that extends much closer to its host star than a more aqueous one could.
Such a planet could be cold enough to possess ice-caps, but that will mean your deserts are also colder rather than hot. If you want forests at the poles, I'd suggest going with a hot desert planet instead. In that scenario, the majority of the planet is scorching inhospitable desert, and the poles possess temperate woodlands and marshes.
Having a river flow away from the lush polar region and end in the desert is entirely plausible, and the suggestion of the Okavango River as an example was a good one.
As to keeping the breathable atmosphere restricted to the polar region, this could be achieved by having a significant change in elevation between the lush pole and the surrounding desert. If the pole lies in a deep enough depression, it could harbour a dense, breathable atmosphere while the rest of the planet suffers from atmospheric pressure far too low to be breathable without assistance.
Keep in mind that having the pole in a deep depression makes having a river flow out of it nigh impossible.
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