The latter lake includes a fish hatchery just below the dam. The area covered by the datasets is part of the Chautauqua Hills, which have distinctive geology, soils, vegetation, and human landuse. Bedrock consists of sandstone and shale. Thick sandstone forms higher hills with steep slopes, and the shale has been eroded into lower hills with gentle slopes. On sandstone hills, soils are dry, sandy or rocky, and unsuitable for agriculture.
Vegetation consists of mostly forest and some pasture.
The forest is composed mainly of black jack oak and post oak. The Verdigris and tributary river valleys consist of floodplain and low terraces that are underlain by alluvial sediment. Trees include willow, cottonwood, and sycamore. Landsat datasets include the northern end of the Chautauqua Hills . Mixed oak-hickory hardwood forest of southeastern Kansas.