This vegetation forms a dense shrub canopy between 0.5 and 2 m in height, dominated by the tall willow Salix orestera. It grows on low-gradient basin floors, streamsides, and wet meadows around 3050-3200 m (10,000-10,500 feet) elevation in the Sierra Nevada of California and in Oregon and Nevada. Soils are silt or clay loams derived from metamorphic parent materials.