Jackson-Schnyder Day: A Legacy Worth Tending

Eight years ago, Ouabache Land Conservancy began an annual tradition at Jackson-Schnyder Nature Preserve: a day honoring the two people whose names, and legacies, remain part of this 20-acre property.

This year's Jackson-Schnyder Day brought volunteers back to the preserve for a Weed Wrangle®, turning that remembrance into something tangible: caring for the land that Julius Schnyder and Marion Jackson once called their own.

OLC partnered with the Vigo County Soil and Water Conservation District and Indiana State University Office of Sustainability for the eighth annual event. Volunteers divided into groups and spread out across the preserve's prairie and woodlands, tackling invasive plants in different areas. One crew worked along the lower woods trail to remove burning bush, an invasive shrub that can crowd out native vegetation.

It's practical work—cutting, pulling, clearing—but particularly fitting for a day rooted in the idea of a land ethic.

Two Names, One Preserve

The names Jackson and Schnyder represent two chapters in the history of this land.

Julius Schnyder purchased the property in 1929 and lived there with his family for 40 years. In 1969, he sold the property to Dr. Marion Jackson, an Indiana State University life sciences professor who would spend another 40 years caring for the land and using it as an outdoor classroom for generations of students.

In 2009, Jackson donated the property to the newly formed Ouabache Land Conservancy, ensuring that its old-growth woods, prairie, ravines, and wildlife habitat would remain protected.

Read More Than a Name: The Story Behind Jackson-Schnyder Nature Preserve to learn more about Julius Schnyder, Marion Jackson, and the history of the land that now bears their names.

Today, Jackson-Schnyder Day gives us an opportunity not only to remember that history, but to continue it.

Carrying the Land Ethic Forward

Protecting a nature preserve isn't a one-time act. Even land that is permanently protected needs people to care for it.

Invasive species don't recognize property boundaries. Trails need maintenance. Habitats change. Storms come through. Stewardship is the ongoing work that helps the native communities within a preserve remain healthy over time.

That's why a Weed Wrangle® is a fitting way to mark Jackson-Schnyder Day. The people who gathered weren't simply remembering the preserve's former owners. They were putting the same idea into practice: this is a place worth caring for.

Thank you to the volunteers who spent part of their weekend doing that work and to our partners at the Vigo County Soil and Water Conservation District and Indiana State University Office of Sustainability for helping make this year's Jackson-Schnyder Day possible.

Eight years into this annual tradition, and nearly a century after Julius Schnyder first made his home here, the people caring for this land have changed.

The commitment to care for it continues.