 The county is located in the Ozark Mountains, a small mountain region between the Appalachians and the Rocky Mountains with distinct settlement patterns, history, and culture from surrounding agrarian regions (the Interior Plains of the Midwest United States and Mississippi Delta to the southeast), and the flat ranchlands of the Great Plains to the west.In the Ozarks, population density is low; recreation, logging, and poultry and livestock farming are the primary land uses.Pastureland or hayland occur on nearly level ridgetops, benches, and valley floors.