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A Distinctive Landscape 

The Ozark Highlands

Fact Sheet 2009–3065

August 2009

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

MISSOURI

KANSAS

ILLINOIS

OKLAHOMA ARKANSAS

KENTUCKY

TENNESSEE

Ozark Highlands Ecoregion

Indian Creek, Howell County, Mo. 

(photograph by Matthew Struckhoff, USGS).

he Ozark Highlands (referring herein to an area that includes the Ozark, 

Ozark Highlands, and Boston Mountains Ecoregions of various classification 

systems and generally corresponds to the Springfield Plateau, Salem Plateau, and Boston 

Mountains physiographic areas) include diverse topographic, geologic, soil, and hydrologic 

conditions that support a broad range of habitat types. The landscape features rugged uplands—some peaks 

higher than 2,500 feet above sea level—with exposed rock and varying soil depths and includes extensive areas 

of karst terrain. The Highlands are characterized by extreme biological diversity and high endemism (uniqueness 

of species). Vegetation communities are dominated by open oak-hickory and shortleaf pine woodlands and 

forests. Included in this vegetation matrix is an assemblage of various types of fens, forests, wetlands, fluvial 

features, and carbonate and siliceous glades. 

An ever-growing human population in the Ozark Highlands has become very dependent on reservoirs 

constructed on major rivers in the region and, in some cases, groundwater for household and public water 

supply. Because of human population growth in the Highlands and increases in industrial and agricultural 

activities, not only is adequate water quantity an issue, but maintaining good water quality is also a challenge. 

Point and nonpoint sources of excessive nutrients are an issue. U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) partnership 

programs to monitor water quality and develop simulation tools to help stakeholders better understand strategies 

to protect the quality of water and the environment are extremely important.

The USGS collects relevant data, conducts interpretive studies, and develops simulation tools to help

stakeholders understand resource availability and sustainability issues. Stakeholders dependent on these 

resources are interested in and benefit greatly from evolving these simulation tools (models) into decision 

support systems that can be used for adaptive management of water and ecological resources.

The Importance of the Ozark Highlands

•	 Most significant highland region in central North America.

•	 High levels of terrestrial and aquatic endemism: more than 200 species largely restricted to the 

Highlands, of which about 160 occur nowhere else in the world.

•	 More than average rate of growth in human population 

and agricultural and commercial activity.

•	 Increasing potential for negative human impacts.

•	 Competing demands for water resources.

•	 Contain the three largest single-conduit springs in the 

United States.

•	 Important center for neotropical bird migration and 

breeding grounds.

•	 Largest extent of glade communities in North America 

(historical extent of open woodlands rather than closed 

forests).

•	 Are home to nearly two-thirds of the 45 federally 

listed plants and animals in Missouri, Arkansas, and 

Oklahoma but contain only one-fourth of the land mass 

in those States.
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For more information, contact

Max Ethridge 

Regional Executive 

South Central Area

U.S. Geological Survey

1700 East Pointe Drive, Suite 202

Columbia, MO 65201

573–777–1660

http://www.cr.usgs.gov

Why Good Science Matters

Stakeholders in the Ozark Highlands are 

dealing with human and animal population 

growth issues related to water supply and waste 

disposal. Quantity and quality of surface water 

and groundwater are of vital importance to 

individuals, families, and communities. Important, 

valuable, and often unique ecosystems may be 

inadvertently threatened by those who value 

them most without the accurate and defendable 

data and information necessary for adaptive 

management approaches that can help ensure 

resource sustainability. Already, important 

terrestrial and aquatic species are federally 

listed as threatened; some caves are inundated 

with sediment; surface and subsurface streams 

are receiving nutrient inflows that can lead to 

degradation beyond their ecological capability to 

overcome; and a number of glade and forested 

lands are becoming fragmented or disappearing 

altogether.

The Ozark Highlands provide numerous 

recreational and tourism opportunities. Many 

businesses rely on the recreational and tourism 

value of clean streams and lakes and the 

commodity value of natural resources such as 

water, timber, mined metals, and sand and gravel. 

Much that we value in the Highlands depends 

on sustainable water supplies and ecosystems. 

The need to monitor and understand the integral 

hydrologic and ecological process dynamics in the 

Highlands is critical and must be addressed if we 

are to meet the current and future environmental 

and social demands on the Ozark Highlands.

USGS Role in the Ozark Highlands 

Several government agencies and nongovernment 

organizations share the general goal of maintaining or increasing 

the quality of natural resources in the Ozark Highlands while 

maintaining a viable economy. Each of these agencies and 

organizations has unique perspectives and capabilities. The 

USGS is well suited to provide the scientific leadership necessary 

to address this goal because of its physical presence in each 

State, broad multidisciplinary expertise, and nonregulatory/

nonmanagement mandate. The USGS and partners will identify 

common regional goals and objectives, threats and emerging 

issues, and information gaps; coordinate the collection of baseline 

data to provide a starting point for all assessment efforts, as well 

as regular and continual monitoring and assessment activities; 

develop simulation tools to help stakeholders with resource 

adaptive management and sustainability; and disseminate 

information to resource managers, researchers, legislative bodies, 

and the public.

•	 Contain the world’s largest active lead/zinc mining district 

(the Viburnum Trend) and several other large inactive districts.

•	 Valued outdoor recreation and tourism use on private and 

public lands.

Research and Science Opportunities in the Highlands

he interaction of unique and high-quality biological 

and hydrologic resources and the effects of stresses 

from human activities can be evaluated best by using a 

multidisciplinary approach that the USGS can provide. 

Information varying from defining baseline resource conditions to 

developing simulation models will help resource managers and users 

understand the human impact on resource sustainability. Varied 

expertise and experience in biological and water-resources activities 

across the entire Highlands make the USGS a valued collaborator in 

studies of Ozark ecosystems, streams, reservoirs, and groundwater. 

A large part of future success will depend on the involvement and 

active participation of key partners. Key science questions include the 

following:

•	 How can research and monitoring be done on Ozark Highlands 

natural resources in a way that meets current and future 

sustainable management objectives?

•	 How will global climate change affect the ability to sustainably 

manage resources?

•	 How is the optimum management action determined for a 

particular site given local conditions, short- and long-term 

goals, and social issues?

•	 What are the appropriate metrics that allow assessment 

of management effectiveness in aquatic, terrestrial, and 

subterranean ecosystems at multiple scales, from local to 

regional?

•	 How are land uses and associated practices 

(including emerging gas exploration and 

extraction dynamics) affecting water resources 

and biological communities?

•	 What tools are available and what tools are 

needed to effectively collect and share data and 

information concerning the Ozark Highlands?