Most of the uplands and large areas of wetland have been converted to agriculture. Drainage has allowed wetlands to be planted to row crops. Many wetlands are used as pasture, especially the grasslands along streams. Many of the large wetlands occupying glacial drainageways and ice-block depressions remain dominated by native vegetation. The shorelines of many of the kettle lakes are being developed for either recreational or residential use.
Prairie fen is common within the sub-subsection.
Prairie fens contain several plants characteristic of tallgrass prairies as well as several plants characteristic of calcareous fens along the northern shorelines of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Tamarack and poison sumac are common along the margins of prairie fens. Many of the rare plants found in the sub-subsection are plants of the tallgrass prairie, more common in the Prairie States further west.