& History
Ginn Woods
Ginn
Woods is comprised of three parcels of land. The largest of these parcels
has been known as Ginn’s Woods for a long time.
Since the original settlement of the area by people of European
descent, only one family had owned this parcel of land.
It appears that the owners never grazed livestock or burned the
understory in this area, nor was any significant logging done during the
half century before acquisition by Ball State University in 1971.
Nixon
Woods is 40 acre area of old-growth forest, contiguous with the south
boundary of the original Ginn’s Woods. No record of post settlement land
use has been found for Nixon Woods. However,
in the 1977 proposal to purchase this tract, it was noted to have mature
trees and little evidence of human disturbance.
The evidence of fencing around Nixon Woods, which is absent from
the rest of the Ginn Woods complex, suggests that Nixon Woods may have
been grazed at some time.
The
third and final tract is the Wesley Addition or Wesley Wetland. This is a
4-hectare former agricultural field contiguous with the southwest corner
of the original Ginn Woods area. This
poorly drained, low-lying area was allowed to undergo natural succession
and is returning to woody plant dominated community.