[2][8][13] Atlas cedar form forests on mountainsides at 1,170 to 2,200 m (3,840 to 7,220 ft), often in pure forests, or mixed with Algerian fir - Abies numidica, Juniperus oxycedrus, holm oak - Quercus ilex, and Acer opalus.

These forests can provide habitat for the endangered Barbary macaque (Macaca sylvanus), a primate that had a prehistorically much wider distribution in northern Morocco and Algeria.

Data that go back to 1927 show higher number of Atlas cedars (more than 150,000 hectares) in the Middle-Atlas mountains only.

However, it is expected that it currently inhabits fewer than 15,000 hectares owing to extensive fires and human use.

[15] In the UK the following cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit (confirmed 2017):[16] An Atlas cedar is planted at the White House South Lawn in Washington, DC.

President Carter ordered a tree house built within the cedar for his daughter Amy.