Borders of forests, sunny moist swales, and moist rock crevices along the Lake Superior shore. Apparently extant only on Isle Royale, records from the mainland of the Upper Peninsula are very old. The one record from Marquette Co. is a mixed collection with Carex buxbaumii. One hopes the mix-up occurred during collecting and not afterwards.

This is a boreal species, which ranges south only to northern New England and Lake Superior.