Additional Links:

OWU Nature Preserves

Bohannan Species Lists

Kraus Preserve

Research at the Preserves

Use by OWU Classes

The Bohannan Preserve is a 55 acre site with old growth beech-maple woods set within a larger forest that sits upon Ohio Shale bluffs overlooking terraced floodplain woodland along Alum Creek. This location is less developed than other areas of the county and, therefore, offers research opportunities in a less disturbed landscape. The preserve has been used for numerous Ohio Wesleyan student projects, including some done in collaboration with Ohio State and Miami of Ohio graduate students. Recent research topics have varied from population studies of the endangered narrow-leaved toothwort and investigations of the reproductive biology of goldenseal and violets to fiber-optic photography of plant root growth and GPS mapping.

The history of this preserve began in 1954, when Elizabeth and Robert Bohannan purchased several contiguous tracts in northeast Delaware County. In their search for ways to ensure that some of the property would be preserved in its natural state, the Bohannans contacted Nature Conservancy. This organization provided information that led them to the possibility of donating part of their property to Ohio Wesleyan University. They then conferred with Dr. and Mrs. John Kraus, who had given the University land for the Kraus Wilderness Preserve. In 1981 the Bohannans provided 55 acres of their land along Alum Creek to form the OWU Bohannan Nature Preserve.