Corn, soybeans, and wheat are the major crops, with tobacco important in some parts. Oak-hickory forest occurs on the rolling plateaus. Coves and cooler slopes support mixed hardwood vegetation of beech, sugar maple, yellow-poplar, white ash, and red and white oak. Eastern red cedar often grows on the shallower limestone soils. Such bottomland hardwoods as cottonwood, cherrybark oak, pin oak, Shumard oak, sweetgum, and swamp white oak occur on the flood plains.
Urban development is minor.
Stabilizing strip mine spoil is a major concern of management. Water Resources Water is relatively abundant throughout the region. In most years, precipitation is adequate for crops. In some years, however, droughts reduce yields, and in others too much rainfall delays planting or interferes with harvesting operations. The large streams and constructed lakes supply most of the urban water, and waterlines carry this water to nearby rural communities.