As a result, the vegetation on the moraines was subject to regularly recurring fires that originated on the outwash plains, and it was dominated by either upland conifers or aspen-paper birch forest. Common landforms are stagnation or end moraines, but ground moraine with drumlins is included at the southern margin of the sub-subsection. Kettle lakes are common on the southwestern part of the Itasca moraine and also in the northern part of the St. Croix moraine. The buried channels and tunnel valleys are often occupied by small kettle lakes and potholes. Windthrow was probably more prevalent in the hardwood-pine forests.
Present forests contain much more paper birch and trembling aspen than the original forests.