This area of the Central Low Plains, like the lower section in Kansas, has a mix of land use and are topographically more irregular than the northern areas of the Central Low Plains in the north of Kansas and other states to the north, where most of the land is in crops. The region, however, is less irregular and less forest covered than the ecoregions to the east.

The potential natural vegetation of this ecological region is a grassland and forest mosaic with wider forested strips along the streams compared to the mostly crop lands to the north.

The mix of land use activities in the ecoregion includes mining operations of high-sulfur bituminous coal. Interesting, the disturbance of these coal strata in southern Iowa and northern Missouri has degraded water quality and affected aquatic biota.