Highly prized for producing distinctive tone wood for acoustic guitars and other instruments, it is mostly a high-elevation mountain tree but also appears in watered canyons.

Englemann spruce is native to western North America, common in the Rocky Mountains and east slopes of the Cascade Range from central British Columbia to Southern Oregon in the Cascades and Montana, Idaho, and Colorado, and more sparsely towards Arizona and New Mexico in the Sky islands;[6] there are also two isolated populations in Northern Mexico.

Because transpiration is greatly reduced in small saplings while engulfed in snowpack, increased rates of transpiration in response to loss of snowpack, coupled with low sapwood water reserves and an extended period of soil frost in windswept areas, may prevent Engelmann spruce from regenerating in open areas both above and below the tree line.

[7] For exposed trees, the availability of soil water may be critical in late winter, when transpirational demands increase.

[6] Although older spruce forests are not very useful to animals for forage, they can become so after fires, as they often burn completely, allowing many other plants, especially deciduous, to rise.

[6] Engelmann spruce-shaded streams are exploited by trout, [6] and aphids produce galls which hang from the tree and look similar to cones when they dry out.

[6] Wood from slow-grown trees at high elevation is especially prized for making soundboards for musical instruments such as acoustic guitars, harps, violins, and pianos.