Northwest Alabama has sustained significant climate changes over the last several thousands years. Rich and varied in its landscape, the Tennessee River Valley supported habitats for aquatic and land animals, and to a wide variety of plants. Lauderdale, Colbert, Franklin, Marion, and Winston County are known as the northwestern quadrant of the Alabama, encapsulated with in the Highland Rim—comprised of the Tennessee Valley, Little Mountain, and Moulton Valley Regions; the Cumberland Plateau; and the Fall Line Hills. The regions were composed of complex vegetation: oak-hickory-pine, oak-hickory, cedar glades, and a mixed mesophytic forest.