Northern hardwoods dominated this unit, but with higher amounts of white ash, American elm, yellow birch, and basswood than on sandy loam soils in adjacent Sub-subsection IX.3.2. Larix and black spruce dominated most depressions between the drumlin-like ridges, and the centers of some of these depressions supported bogs and wet meadows. Black ash, yellow birch, and American elm dominated better drained depressions. Sub-subsection IX.3.1 is managed primarily for forest, but local areas of the broad ridges are pastured. Iron mining was once important near the city of Iron River on the Menominee Iron Range.
Northern hardwoods are dominant on both sandy loam and silt loam soils.
Ground layers are ephemeral rich, unlike those of Sub-subsection IX.3.2. Within the Nicolet National Forest, the best saw timber comes from this sub-subsection. Where the linear depressions between the drumlinized ridges are drained by streams, American elm and balsam fir are common. Northern white-cedar is occasionally present at the edges of depressions, but the ground and end moraines generally contain little of this species. None identified to date.