Associated species include black spruce (Picea mariana), white spruce (Picea glauca), paper birch (Betula papyrifera), resin birch (Betula glandulosa), mountain alder (Alnus Viridis Crispa), thin leaf alder (Alnus incana tenuifolia), Scouler willow (Salix scouleriana), Bebb willow (Salix bebbiana), blue joint reedgrass (Calamagrostis Canadensis), Cladonia lichens, sedges, and mosses.

[3] This is an early seral species that colonizes freshly disturbed habitats, such as floodplains recently scoured by floodwaters.

The seeds germinate immediately when they are deposited upon moist substrate, and the plant grows best on wet alluvium.

[3] This plant provides food for many animals, such as moose, deer, caribou, snowshoe hares, beavers, and small mammals and birds.

[5] Native Americans used parts of willows, including this species, for medicinal purposes, basket weaving, to make bows and arrows, and for building animal traps.