In many forst ecoystems, berry plants play a pioneer role by quickly and densely colonizing disturbed land. After a fire, clearcut, or natural landslide, there is often a profusion of berries until the forest trees grow through and shade them out. Thimbleberry grows in dense thickets under a full canopy of alder, birch or aspen.
Berries are an excellent food, containing many vitamins and easily available sugars.
The edible berries of the Northwest were well known to the native peoples who dried them into cakes or used them in pemmican, a high calorie, easily preserved food made from berries mixed with dried meat and fat, and pounded into cakes. Almost all wild berries are good processed into jams, jellies, concentrates, juices and syrup. Edible berries are found in a wide variety of genera. They vary in their growth habits from cane plants to small shrubs to large woody shrubs and even small trees. Berry plants can be propagated by root cuttings, suckers or tip layering.