This species has been recorded from lowland and mid-montane tropical forests. It is found in both primary and degraded forests.

This species occurs in the northern coastal areas (including the Foja mountains), and the Vogelkop Peninsula of the island of New Guinea (Indonesia and Papua New Guinea). These populations have subspecific status, as D. inustus finschi and D. inustus inustus respectively. D. inustus inustus is also present on the islands of Japen, Waigeo, Misool, Salawati, and possibly Batanta (Indonesia) adjacent to its mainland range. Its northern coastal range extends as far east as Wewak (Jim Thomas pers. comm.) and probably ranges further to the south-west from the northern coastal range than is currently known (this is a poorly surveyed area). It ranges in elevation from between 100 to over 1,500 m asl (on the summit of the Torricelli mountains).

It is listed on Appendix II of CITES. This species occurs in a couple of protected areas. There is a community-based conservation project, the Tenkile Conservation Alliance (http://www.tenkile.com/index.html) in the northern coastal range of New Guinea that is focused on protecting tree kangaroo species. Further surveys are needed to determine the true range of this species.