Using General Land Office Survey Notes to Define Reference Ecosystems for Ball State University’s Ginn Woods, Delaware County, Indiana

Abstract

Nineteenth century land surveyors listed the species and size of witness trees. From this information we have first-person accounts for the timber comprising Indiana’s presettlement forests. The goal of this investigation was to use historic General Land Office (GLO) survey notes to establish reference ecosystems for Ginn Woods, a Ball State University Field Station property. For the region surrounding Ginn Woods, witness tree species and sizes were charted on a mile section grid and a presettlement map of plant associations was created. Results show that Ginn Woods was historically part of a larger Beech-Maple community geographically isolated between the Mississinewa River and Pipe Creek floodplain ecosystems. Species associated with the Oak-Hickory community were located near Ginn Woods, but these species were not historically recorded in what became the Ginn Woods site. GLO data also identified the presence of prairies, swamps, and springs in or around the Ginn Woods property. GLO results were compared to more recent examinations of the composition of Ginn Woods, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) land use data were incorporated to illustrate the dramatic loss of historic forest and wetland complexes to modern agriculture.