The tallgrass prairie was concentrated on the least dissected portions of the landscape, in the center of the subsection and at the northern edge in Wisconsin. The Wisconsin prairie, one of the largest in the State, is unusual in having forest soils rather than prairie soils. Oak brushlands were common along the edges of the prairie in Wisconsin. Bur oak savanna was concentrated on the rolling moraine ridges at the western edge of the subsection and in the dissected ravines at the eastern edge. Maple-basswood was restricted to minor portions of the landscape with the greatest fire protection, either in steep, dissected ravines or where stream orientation reduced fire frequency or severity.
Fire is the most important disturbance within the subsection.
Native American land management with fire may have been partially responsible for maintaining the prairies. Wheeler et al . Prairie species were more common in the east, where the topography was lessdissected, than on the moraines of the southwest. Much of the area has been farmed. Both tallgrass prairie and oak savanna, once the characteristic vegetation, are now rare due to fire suppression or conversion to agriculture.