[4] The freshwater crustacean is endemic to California, where it lives in the endangered vernal pool type of habitat, and other freshwater aquatic habitats including ponds, reservoirs, ditches, road ruts, and other natural and artificial temporary water bodies.

The southeastern Sacramento Valley contains about 15% of the remaining vernal pool grassland habitat in the state, and it has about 35% of the known occurrences of L. packardi.

It has been noted at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, Travis Air Force Base, and the Jepson Prairie Preserve.

[6] The adult is omnivorous, collecting food items with its phyllopods as it swims, climbs on vegetation, or digs in sediment.

[6] It is an ecosystem engineer in that it causes bioturbation, producing so much turbidity when it digs through the sediment that it may alter the ecology of its pool habitat by reducing plant cover.

The construction of the University of California, Merced, campus was scheduled to alter the habitat in the area, but it also included plans for protection of over 20,000 acres (8,100 ha).

Habitat can also be degraded when the local hydrology is altered, making the land too dry or permanently wet.